United States v. Fricosu | |
---|---|
Court | United States District Court for the District of Colorado |
Full case name | United States of America v. Ramona Camelia Fricosu, a.k.a. Ramona Smith |
Citation(s) | United States v. Fricosu, 841F.Supp.2d (United States District Court for the District of Colorado2012). |
Court membership | |
Judge(s) sitting | Robert E. Blackburn |
Keywords | |
encryption, self-incrimination |
United States v. Fricosu, 841 F.Supp.2d 1232 (D. Col 2012), is a federal criminal case in Colorado that addressed whether a person can be compelled to reveal his or her encryption passphrase or password, despite the U.S. Constitution's Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination. [1] On January 23, 2012, judge Robert E. Blackburn held that under the All Writs Act, Fricosu is required to produce an unencrypted hard drive. [2]
Fricosu's attorney claimed it was possible she did not remember the password. A month later, Fricosu's ex-husband handed the police a list of potential passwords. [3] One of the passwords worked, rendering the self-incrimination issue moot.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation filed an amicus brief in support of Fricosu. [4] [5]
Fricosu subsequently entered a plea agreement in 2013, meaning that the question of a defendant's right to resist mandatory decryption will not be addressed by a higher court until such time as a future case addressing the same issue arises. [6]
The Encrypting File System (EFS) on Microsoft Windows is a feature introduced in version 3.0 of NTFS that provides filesystem-level encryption. The technology enables files to be transparently encrypted to protect confidential data from attackers with physical access to the computer.
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