[IP] Judge Rules Man Cannot Be Forced To Decrypt HD

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Bob Porter" <bobporter@theideasgroup.com>
Date: August 19, 2008 9:30:08 PM EDT
To: <dave@farber.net>
Subject: Judge Rules Man Cannot Be Forced To Decrypt HD

Judge Rules Man Cannot Be Forced To Decrypt HD

In Vermont, US Magistrate Judge Jerome Niedermeier has ruled that  
forcing
someone to divulge the password to decrypt their hard drive violates  
the 5th
Amendment. Border guards testify that they saw child pornography on the
defendant's laptop when the PC was on, but they made the mistake of  
turning
it off and were unable to access it again because the drive was  
protected by
PGP. Although prosecutors offered many ways to get around the 5th  
Amendment
protections, the Judge would have none of that and quashed the grand  
jury
subpoena requesting the defendant's PGP passphrase. A conviction is  
still
likely because prosecutors have the testimony of the two border guards  
who
saw the drive while it was open."

Full Story:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-9834495-38.html?hhTest=1

The article stresses the potential importance of this ruling (which was
issued last November but went unnoticed until now): "Especially if this
ruling is appealed, US v. Boucher could become a landmark case. The  
question
of whether a criminal defendant can be legally compelled to cough up his
encryption passphrase remains an unsettled one, with law review  
articles for
the last decade arguing the merits of either approach."



Bob Porter
bobporter@theideasgroup.com
The Ideas Group
51 E Campbell Ave. Suite 101-I
Campbell, CA 95008
415-260-3630

www.theideasgroup.com






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