The Fifth Amendment in the Digital Age (ZDNet - Identity Matters
Blog) Basically, if the password is a physical thing she has,
than the Fifth Amendment does not protect it. But if the
password is deemed to be something the defendant knows, it is
protected.As the post points out, biometric technologies
complicate this further. To illustrate the principle, the
Supreme Court has previously explained that a witness might be
“forced to surrender a key to a strongbox containing
incriminating documents,” but not “compelled to reveal the
combination to a wall safe.” The Fifth Amendment guaranty that
"No person shall... be compelled in any criminal case to be a
witness against himself," applies (outside the military) to
those who have already been indicted by a grand jury, are
standing trial, and are being asked to assist in their
prosecution. The example above doesn't seem to prevent the
police from hiring a locksmith to open the wall safe; it merely
prevents the police from compelling the accused to help them.
The F