Encryption Controversy Continues

As you may have heard, the controversy over whether a court can compel an individual to disclose the encryption key for an encrypted drive continues.  In this latest chapter, a district court in Colorado ruled that the Fifth Amendment prohibition against self-incrimination does not preclude a court from compelling a defendant to decrypt the contents of their hard disk.  

 

The case turned on the court’s reasoning that the location of the evidence was not in question (i.e., the evidence was on the drive).  As such, it did not violate the Fifth Amendment to require the defendant to render that evidence accessible to law enforcement.  This case is bound to result in appeals and further litigation.  

 

While there is still no clear and uniform set of court decisions spanning the country on this issue, it is clear courts are uncomfortable with the idea that anyone can, with readily available and free technology, render potentially critical evidence inaccessible.  They must, however, balance that discomfort against the growing concern in this country over the erosion of personal privacy rights.