Via News.com -
A federal judge in Vermont has ruled that prosecutors can't force a criminal defendant accused of having illegal images on his hard drive to divulge his PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) passphrase.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Jerome Niedermeier ruled that a man charged with transporting child pornography on his laptop across the Canadian border has a Fifth Amendment right not to turn over the passphrase to prosecutors. The Fifth Amendment protects the right to avoid self-incrimination.
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Umm, this is the rub. If we demand the protection of encryption for all in the States...this is the type of people that will use it, along with the rest that are worried about security in general.
While I agree with the judge's decision under the current laws, I hate to see this type of case set the examples.
In the UK, this isn't the case. Under Part 3 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), defendant face tough sentences if they fail to disclose encryption keys.
There are other ways of proving people like this guilty that don't involve giving up important personal protection.
ReplyDeleteI fully agree with you Drew and hopefully they have enough evidence in this case to not worry about the encryption.
ReplyDeleteBut, just like in the UK, this topic will continue to surface in the States and some people will push for removal of that protection over time.
In the end, we might end up with something like RIPA and that worries me.