Of course they could compel you to keep it, the CIA has overthrown countries, performed psychological experiments on unwilling US citizens, they've sold crack a

Of course they could compel you to keep it, the CIA has overthrown countries, performed psychological experiments on unwilling US citizens, they've sold crack and smuggled arms against Congress's wishes, the list goes on. There is nothing stopping a part of the US government from compelling a company to keep a warrant canary. But that doesn't mean canaries are useless, they're just not protective if the US government has deemed it important enough to force it.