Judge orders defendant to decrypt PGP-protected laptop

[Stephan Somogyi]

At 13:08 -0500 03.03.2009, Adam Fields wrote:

>When compelled to give out your password

Unless I'm misunderstanding the ruling, Boucher is not being 
compelled to produce his passphrase (like he could under RIPA Section 
49 in the UK), but he is being told to produce the unencrypted 
contents of the drive.

Assuming I'm interpreting the ruling correctly, this seems little 
different than a judge approving a search warrant for a residence, 
whose execution could produce incriminating evidence that is usable 
in court.

There is a chasm of difference between being compelled to produce 
keys, which could be subsequently reused with other encrypted 
material, and being compelled to produce specific unencrypted data, 
which is much more narrowly scoped and therefore less intrusive.

s.

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