re fifth amendment and passwords in article apr colnet cmhnet org res colnet cmhnet org rob stampfli writes sadly it does not suspects can be compelled to give handwriting and voice exemplars and to take blood and dna tests i am sure that mike is correct on this point i am also pretty sure that administering truth serum would be ruled a violation of your right not to incriminate yourself but what is the salient difference you can find the salient difference in any number of th amendment related supreme court opinions the court limits th amendment protections to what they call testimonial evidence as opposed to physical evidence the whole question would hinge on whether a crypto key would be considered testimonial evidence i suppose arguments could be made either way though obviously i would hope it would be considered testimonial phil
