[homunculus]

But this has already happened and the judge in question 'compelled' the suspect to decrypt her laptop. I don't know if she ever did, whether there was any evidence that was germane to the case on it or whether she was held indefinitely but there is recourse for the authorities in these cases.

http://www.cnet.com/news/judge-americans-can-be-forced-to-de...

[csandreasen]

Eventually her husband provided the cops with the correct password[1]. The 5th Amendment prevents you from providing testimony that would incriminate yourself. In this case, though, she was being compelled to decrypt the laptop to produce evidence against someone else - Ms. Fricosu was granted immunity against any evidence collected from the laptop[2], so she didn't have any 5th Amendment grounds. In general, a Grand Jury has the right to subpoena any evidence from a third party that is relevant to a criminal investigation, and you can be held in contempt if you don't produce it. She had already admitted in a wiretapped conversation that there were documents relevant to the case on the laptop, the laptop was in her possession and that she refused to give them the passwords.

[1] http://www.denverpost.com/ci_20080656

[2] http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/threatlevel/2012/01/decryp... (p.9)