[DCBurgess58]

It strikes me that this is a clear 5th amendmment issue... If YOU are forced to decrypt the drive, then YOU are being forced to self incriminate. Isn't that exactly what the 5th amendment is about?

The actual relevent wording of the Fifth Amendmant "nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself"

That seems pretty clear to me.

In this changing, computer age, the government is quite keen to reinterprit the constitution in ways that benefit the government. I however, would choose to claim my understanding of the fifth amendment... over a judge's interpritation... PERIOD. I would rather accept the jail time for contempt of court. Particularly in the case of a potential felony conviction. The most time a Federal judge can keep you in jail for contempt of court is less than five years.

[KrisKrinkle]

******It strikes me that this is a clear 5th amendmment issue... If YOU are forced to decrypt the drive, then YOU are being forced to self incriminate. Isn't that exactly what the 5th amendment is about? The actual relevent wording of the Fifth Amendmant "nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself"****

Right. If you can be forced to self incriminate by decrypting the drive thereby revealing incriminating evidence, can you be forced to self incriminate by taking law enforcement officials to the location where you buried the cougar or wolf or other protected species you may or may not have killed, or by walking them through the scene of the crime you may or may not have committed, or by taking them to the location of the unregistered fully automatic Uzi you may or may not have hidden?

All of the above could be done without actually speaking, but could still be incriminating.

It won't stop with this.