{"id":32858,"date":"2018-04-30T00:05:12","date_gmt":"2018-04-30T05:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=32858"},"modified":"2018-04-30T08:27:41","modified_gmt":"2018-04-30T13:27:41","slug":"volokh-conspiracy-suspect-can-be-compelled-to-decrypt-devices-if-government-proves-he-has-the-ability-to-do-so-court-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=32858","title":{"rendered":"Volokh Conspiracy: Suspect Can Be Compelled to Decrypt Devices If Government Proves He Has The Ability To Do So, Court Rules"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/orinkerrblog.files.wordpress.com\/2018\/04\/usvspencer.pdf\">United States v. Spencer<\/a>, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 70649 (N.D. Cal. Apr. 26, 2018) <\/p>\n<p>Volokh Conspiracy: S<a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/volokh\/2018\/04\/29\/suspect-can-be-compelled-to-decrypt-devi\">uspect Can Be Compelled to Decrypt Devices If Government Proves He Has The Ability To Do So, Court Rules<\/a> by Orin Kerr:<\/p>\n<p>The right approach, in my view.<br \/>\n<!--more--><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Regular readers know my longstanding interest in the correct Fifth Amendment standard for compelling a suspect to decrypt an encrypted device. The Eleventh Circuit adopted one standard in 2012, but I have argued that standard was wrong. Given my interest, I thought I would flag a new decision by District Judge Charles Breyer, United States v. Spencer, that adopts what I have argued is the correct approach. It cites one of my Volokh Conspiracy posts, too, making it a brilliant opinion.<\/p>\n<p>The relevant facts of the case are simple. The government searched Spencer&#8217;s home with a warrant to find child pornography. They seized several devices, but some were encrypted. The government is now seeking an All Writs Act order compelling Spencer to decrypt three devices &#8212; phone, a laptop, and an external hard drive &#8212; in support of the warrant. Spencer has responded that he cannot be ordered to decrypt the devices in light of his Fifth Amendment privilege.<\/p>\n<p>The opinion rejecting Spencer&#8217;s argument is short, and in my view quite good, so I thought I would include the full analysis here. (I have put the two footnotes in brackets, and then for readability added a paragraph break after them. Otherwise this is the entire analysis and discussion.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>United States v. Spencer, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 70649 (N.D. Cal. Apr. 26, 2018) Volokh Conspiracy: Suspect Can Be Compelled to Decrypt Devices If Government Proves He Has The Ability To Do So, Court Rules by Orin Kerr: The right &hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=32858\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cell-phones","category-computer-searches"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32858"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32874,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32858\/revisions\/32874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}