Q: If the police ask for my encryption keys or passwords, do I have to turn them over? A: No. The police can't force you to divulge anything. However, a judg

Q: If the police ask for my encryption keys or passwords, do I have to turn them over? A: No. The police can't force you to divulge anything. However, a judge or a grand jury may be able to. The Fifth Amendment protects you from being forced to give the government self-incriminating testimony. If turning over an encryption key or password triggers this right, not even a court can force you to divulge the information. But whether that right is triggered is a difficult question to answer. If turning over an encryption key or password will reveal to the government information it does not have (such as demonstrating that you have control over files on a computer), there is a strong argument that the Fifth Amendment protects you.14 If, however, turning over passwords and encryption keys will not incriminate you, then the Fifth Amendment does not protect you. Moreover, even if you have a Fifth Amendment right that protects your encryption keys or passwords, a grand jury or judge may still order you to disclose your data in an unencrypted format under certain circumstances.15 If you find yourself in a situation where the police are demanding that you turn over encryption keys or passwords, let EFF know. I'm very interested to see the case law behind this interpretation. As people are being held in contempt for not turning their encryption keys over to the courts. If there is case law supporting the notion that an encryption key is protected under the 5th Amendment then we need to direct more attention to those cases.