A recent development in a 2017 case in Louisiana has resulted in a suspect being compelled to surrender the passcode to his smartphone. In the case of State of Louisiana v. Sean-Paul Gott [1], one of the four defendants was ordered under a ‘Motion to Compel’ to reveal the password to his smartphone, which was seized by authorities. The defendant refused, citing the Fifth Amendment right to be protected from witnessing against himself in criminal cases [2].
However, the court ruled that the Fifth Amendment did not apply in the case of an order to surrender a phone’s passcode, as “a passcode is not testimonial in that it does not compel an individual to extensively use the contents of their mind in creating a response nor does it relate an individual to an offense” [3]. The court argued that the Fifth Amendment only protects an individual from providing information that is compulsory, testimonial, AND incriminating. The prosecution argued that since the provision of a passcode is only compulsory but not testimonial or incriminating, the defense of the Fifth Amendment does not apply [4].
What do you think about this ruling by the District Court in Louisiana?
Do you believe that a passcode is enough to protect the contents of a smartphone from inspection?
What are some ideas you may have to increase your privacy? Let us know in the comments below!
Image Credit
Phone Lock by Pasi Mämmelä – https://www.flickr.com/photos/mammela/26796454495
Sources / Articles You May Be Interested In
Your Encryption Key Is Protected By The Constitution? – (TechDirt)
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20071216/163110.shtml
The Fifth Amendment limits on forced decryption and applying the ‘foregone conclusion’ doctrine – (The Washington Post)
State of Lousiana Vs Sean-Paul Gott (DocumentCloud.org)
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4777776-Compel.html
Forced Decryption and the Fifth Amendment: A Technical Perspective – (IEEE Xplore Library)
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8232536/
Key Discloure Law – (Wikipedia)
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