EFF Claims Encrypted Password Is Protected Under 5th Amendment
A mortgage fraud case has turned into a battle over the Fifth Amendment as the Department of Justice argued that the government can force individuals to disclose their encryption pass phrases.
Ramona Camelia Fricosu and her husband, Scott Anthony Whatcott, were indicted last year for scamming Colorado Springs residents facing foreclosure. After the FBI obtained search warrants and seized Fricosu's laptop, agents discovered they could not view the contents because the laptop drive was encrypted. As a result, the FBI asked a Colorado federal district court on May 6 to compel Fricosu to enter her password, arguing that the contents of the drive were included under the warrants.
The government doesn't need the passphrase itself and said Fricosu can just type it in to decrypt the drive without anyone finding out her code. Prosecutors have likened the encryption key in this case to a physical key used on a safe, arguing that a warrant would require defendants to hand over the key to open the safe.
