Same story from three weeks ago with many, many comments.
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1760700
It's very likely that any comments here will cover the same ground, so if you're interested in might be worth reading the comments there first.
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1760700
It's very likely that any comments here will cover the same ground, so if you're interested in might be worth reading the comments there first.
I repeat that I'm not arguing that the law is right. I'm merely pointing out that he is not innocent of the charges for which he is imprisoned.
I'm also pretty sure there are similar or analogous breaches of what one might call natural justice in the USA - I'm sure someone can provide examples.
Actually it can and does. If a judge compels you to turn over your password as a part of the discovery process and you refuse then you can be served with a contempt warrant and go straight to jail without trial and with limited possibility to appeal.
On December 17, 2006, defendant Sebastien Boucher was arrested on a complaint charging him with transportation of child pornography in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(a)(1). At the time of his arrest government agents seized from him a laptop computer containing child pornography. The government has now determined that the relevant files are encrypted, password-protected, and inaccessible. The grand jury has subpoenaed Boucher to enter a password to allow access to the files on the computer. Boucher has moved to quash the subpoena on the grounds that it violates his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
The district court held that Boucher could invoke the Fifth Amendment and refuse to comply.
http://cyb3rcrim3.blogspot.com/2007/12/court-upholds-using-f...
They later worked around it by requiring him to provide the decrypted contents of the drive instead of the password itself since a border agent witnessed some of the files on the drive and he wouldn't be providing new evidence.
http://cyb3rcrim3.blogspot.com/2009/03/5th-amendment-bummer....