Could a judge order you to hand over the keys to your encrypted computer hard drive or flash drive?

COULD a judge order you to hand over the keys to your encrypted computer hard drive or flash drive?

Turns out the answer to this is a definitive “YES”.  And you can bet there is a major outcry by civil rights and privacy groups because a judge has ordered a person to provide an unencrypted hard drive as part of an investigation. The story is over on Wired.com and is titled “Judge orders defendant to decrypt laptop“.

What do you think? Is being forced to hand over your data a violation of your Fifth Amendment rights? What if it were a judge ordering a suspected terrorist to do the same?

Tags: civil rights, court, court order, criminal, disk, disk encryption, encryption, fifth amendment, File, folder, judge, order