Does the Fifth Amendment Protect Your Encryption Key?

http://ow.ly/7iur7

An article by Joshua Engel appearing on law.com on the LTN webpage.

This article discusses certain issues pertaining to electronically stored information, and whether such information can be accessed by law enforcement.  The article mentions cell phone searches without warrants.  In addition, the article discusses cases in which defendant's have argued that it would be a violation of their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination to have to reveal encryption passwords that were sought by the government.

The article describes the "foregone conclusion" doctrine as follows, "Under the "foregone conclusion" doctrine, the provision of information is not subject to the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination when the existence and location of information are known to the government, and the act of providing the evidence adds little or nothing to the Government's case. See Fisher v. United States, 425 U.S. 391 (1976)." A link to the case opinion is provided, and links to other referenced cases are provided as well.