Tuesday, January 24, 2012

5th Amendment = Encryption?

A woman accused of bank fraud hopes to prevent the contents of her hard drive from being searched with encyrption.

http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/23/10219384-judge-orders-woman-to-give-up-password-to-hard-drive

If this were the case, it would quickly become impossible for the criminal justice system to prove a lot of their cases.

Interesting theory. The 5th amendment says:


No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.


Looking at the parallel with the physical world, you can't refuse a valid search warrant for your house. Just because you have a safe in the house with a key, doesn't mean the police can't search it.


Now, if your computer were an artifically intelligent computer, implanted with your memories...then maybe she would have a point.

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