Contumacious
Radical Freedom
Judge Orders Defendant to Decrypt Laptop
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 Amendments 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. (.pdf)
The authorities seized the laptop from defendant Ramona Fricosu in 2010 with a court warrant while investigating financial fraud.
The case is being closely watched (.pdf) by civil rights groups, as the issue has never been squarely weighed in on by the Supreme Court.
Full disk encryption is an option built into the latest flavors of Windows, Mac OS and Linux, and well-designed encryption protocols used with a long passphrase can take decades to break, even with massive computing power.
The government had argued that there was no Fifth Amendment breach, and that it might require significant resources and may harm the subject computer if the authorities tried to crack the encryption.
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Scumbag Federal Courts "Judges" have USURPED Judicial Immunity and this is the end result - they can ignore the Constitution with impunity !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
.
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 Amendments 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. (.pdf)
The authorities seized the laptop from defendant Ramona Fricosu in 2010 with a court warrant while investigating financial fraud.
The case is being closely watched (.pdf) by civil rights groups, as the issue has never been squarely weighed in on by the Supreme Court.
Full disk encryption is an option built into the latest flavors of Windows, Mac OS and Linux, and well-designed encryption protocols used with a long passphrase can take decades to break, even with massive computing power.
The government had argued that there was no Fifth Amendment breach, and that it might require significant resources and may harm the subject computer if the authorities tried to crack the encryption.
_-_-_-_----__--__--__---___----_____
Scumbag Federal Courts "Judges" have USURPED Judicial Immunity and this is the end result - they can ignore the Constitution with impunity !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
.