Cough Up That Encryption Key – or Else!

Whether the protection afforded by the Fifth Amendment extends to the refusal to open encrypted computer files is at the center of a potentially precedent-setting case in Colorado. The issue is “not specifically the computer or the email. It’s the encryption,” said EFF staff attorney Hanni Fakhoury. The issue comes down to whether the government has the right to force the defendant to become complicit in her own incrimination.

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