[lukev]

An important clarification since some people seem to be confusing the issue: the police seized her computer already, presumably legally and with a warrant.

So while this does present an interesting edge case in the fifth amendment (does evidence count as evidence if it's encrypted?), it shouldn't set off civil liberty alarm bells in your head nearly as badly as several other things currently going on in this country.

[mikeash]

I disagree. If you can be jailed for refusing to decrypt data on a computer seized under a legitimate warrant, then you can be jailed for not having the password for encrypted-looking data on a computer seized under a legitimate warrant. A warrant does not imply guilt, so this means innocent people may be imprisoned.

[lukev]

I agree completely.

Just saying that a question of what a court can compel you to do as part of a trial (before sentencing) is a quite different than a fourth amendment issue of illegal search and seizure which it seems some people are conflating this with.