Our justice system, by and large, rests not on proving the truth or not, but on a (idealistically) rational group of peers deciding both on the probability that

Our justice system, by and large, rests not on proving the truth or not, but on a (idealistically) rational group of peers deciding both on the probability that a crime occurred and the justification/reasoning of both the crime itself and the law criminalizing it. Beyond that, it rests on a legal system (police, courts, etc) that, by and large, also act on notions of reasonability and discretion to bring forth evidence that will inform a jury's decision. As we have seen in many high-profile examples, the system is imperfect - it is human, and in many prominent cases (from exoneration of lynchers in the 1930s to indefinite detention today) it fails in disturbing ways. It is because of intentional vagueness that these failures arise, but it is also by this vagueness that unique exceptions arise. In this case, I don't think that the decision necessarily sets precedent for all of us with hard drives for which we have forgotten the password. I don't necessarily agree with the indefinite detention (although I do not claim to know the scope of other investigations that might rely on the evidence on those drives), but I think the circumstances are positioned such that this decision is an exception to our system rather than the beginning of a slippery slope. Of course i might be wrong, but I wouldn't decry the end of privacy just yet.