Mailinglist Archive

Judge: Man can't be forced to divulge encryption passphrase
December 14, 2007 5:33 PM PST
Posted by Declan McCullagh

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.

http://www.news.com/8301-13578_3-9834495-38.html