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by djackson 5457 days ago
I don't think you understand what a subpoena is.

A subpoena is a compulsory order to produce all documents related to a matter, whether the government knows they exist or not. So yes, if you believe in subpoena power, you agree that you should have to produce that box.
2 comments
SoftwareMaven 5457 days ago
And you are failing to understand the 5th Amendment. You do not have to give up that information, if it is only in your head, regardless of the subpoena. That is the entire point of the 5th. You can't stop the government from doing its search, you can't actively hide it, but you don't have to give them the information if it will incriminate you.
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jancona 5457 days ago
And you are failing to understand the legal questions at issue...

The Fifth Amendment, as currently interpreted, doesn't provide the protection you describe. It protects against giving self-incriminating testimony and essentially the question is whether the password is "testimony." Keep in mind that the government is not asking him to disclose it, just to type it into the computer. Here's a good discussion: http://volokh.com/posts/chain_1197670606.shtml (There seems to be a CSS problem with that page, but the text is fine.)

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djackson 5457 days ago
They have the information. They have your hard drive. You have a key, or they can brute force the information out with decryption software. This is not a Fifth Amendment case. They don't want or care about the password itself. They can't use the information you provide (the password) to incriminate you, no matter what the password is.
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VladRussian 5457 days ago
>You have a key, or they can brute force the information out with decryption software. This is not a Fifth Amendment case. They don't want or care about the password itself. They can't use the information you provide (the password) to incriminate you, no matter what the password is.

You have the coordinates of the dead body, or they can dig and scan each square foot of the continent. This is not a Fifth Amendment case. They don't want or care about the coordinates itself. They can't use the information you provide (the coordinates of the dead body) to incriminate you, no matter what the coordinates of the dead body is.

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djackson 5453 days ago
If you killed someone, I want them to win the case against you.
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dexen 5457 days ago
Quoting DavidSJ's http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2751333

> US v Hubbell makes clear that the government cannot compel production of documents (except under immunity to prosecution) which it does not know, ahead of time, to exist.

Dunno if that's true (as IANAL), just quoting.

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