Judge Orders Defendant to Decrypt Laptop
January 24th, 2012Update: She Doesn’t Remember Her Password
Well, duh.
Via: Wired:
A Colorado woman ordered to decrypt her laptop so prosecutors may use the files against her in a criminal case might have forgotten the password, the defendant’s attorney said Monday.
The authorities seized the Toshiba laptop from defendant Ramona Fricosu in 2010 with a court warrant while investigating alleged mortgage fraud. Ruling that the woman’s Fifth Amendment rights against compelled self-incrimination would not be breached, U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn ordered the woman in January to decrypt the laptop.
“It’s very possible to forget passwords,” the woman’s attorney, Philip Dubois, said in a telephone interview. “It’s not clear to me she was the one who set up the encryption on this drive. I don’t know if she will be able to decrypt it.”
—End Update—
Via: Wired:
A judge on Monday ordered a Colorado woman to decrypt her laptop computer so prosecutors can use the files against her in a criminal case.
The defendant, accused of bank fraud, had unsuccessfully argued that being forced to do so violates the Fifth Amendment’s protection against compelled self-incrimination.
“I conclude that the Fifth Amendment is not implicated by requiring production of the unencrypted contents of the Toshiba Satellite M305 laptop computer,” Colorado U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn ruled Monday.
Since this woman is no doubt going to jail anyway, she should strike a blow for liberty by telling his honor that he can shove that laptop up his ass.
“I can’t remember my password.”
It has been a pretty rough 24 hours for privacy. I saw this one yesterday, and got pretty spooked. I’m starting to think it may be time to start stepping away from the computer, as it is clear that computers are about to become evidence gathering machines.