Actual case aside
This is just ridiculous. How could the judge have "found that Doe remembered the passwords needed to decrypt the hard drives but chose not to reveal them"? Obviously, he couldn't. He just assumed it, because of.... thought police?
Also, somehow wanting to force the accused person to reveal his password goes against all established principles of due process, like the accused not having to incriminate himself, or the right to remain silent.
"The appeals court found that forcing the defendant to reveal passwords was not testimonial in this instance because the government already had a sense of what it would find."
^ This is circular reasoning. As long as they don't know the password and can't decrypt the drive, they just can't know what's on it - let alone prove it.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
