A former police sergeant in Philadelphia accused of possessing child porn has been jailed for over 16 months for refusing to decrypt his hard drives. As Ars Technica reports, Francis Rawls will seemingly be jailed indefinitely without a conviction unless he complies with the order.
This action highlights a Fifth Amendment question that still hasn't been answered and for which there are defenders of each position. It's whether or not the Fifth Amendment protects people from being forced to unlock their devices.
His public defender, Keith Donoghue, argues Rawls is being "held without charges" and should be immediately released.
Officially he is being held in a detention center for contempt of court. A ruling on the matter still hasn't come down from the US 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia and it's not clear when one can be expected.
The Supreme Court still hasn't ruled on the decryption issue in particular.
A brief from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) explained its position on the matter. The EFF considers "compelled decryption" to go against the Fifth Amendment.
Compelled decryption is inherently testimonial because it compels a suspect to use the contents of their mind to translate unintelligible evidence into a form that can be used against them. The Fifth Amendment provides an absolute privilege against such self-incriminating compelled decryption.- EFF
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