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Re: COE Recommendation No. R (95) 13
[email protected] (Michael Smith) said:
>>> 9. Subject to legal privileges or protection, most legal systems
>>> permit investigating authorities to order persons to hand over
>>> objects under their control that are required to serve as
>>> evidence. In a parallel fashion, provisions should be made for the
>>> power to order persons to submit any specified data under their
>>> control in a computer system in the form required by the
>>> investigating authority.
>>> ________________________________________________________________________
>> Is this 'what we would want'? It clearly means that one can be
>> ordered to reveal the password to encrypted data and punished by law
>> if one refuses.
MS> Forgive me if this point has already been raised, but couldn't an
MS> objection to such laws be based on the protection against
MS> self-incrimination?
MS> Maybe this all depends on whether the legal context is a civil or a
MS> criminal proceeding. If I'm being sued and they ask me at a
MS> deposition whether I did such-and-such, I can't take the Fifth (or
MS> can I?). But if I'm accused of murder, the police can't make me tell
MS> them where I've buried the knife. However, if I have a wall safe and
MS> they get a warrant to search it, can I be jailed for contempt if I
MS> don't give them the combination?
Well, IANAL, but yes, I believe that you can be. Or, worse,
obstruction of justice. Especially if they cut it open and find that
the knife was in the safe.
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