Is Your iPhone Passcode Off Limits to the Law? Supreme Court Ruling Sought

The Wall Street Journal ^ | 08 Jan 2021 | Robert McMillan

[Theoria]

Petitioners including ACLU say passcodes are protected by the Fifth Amendment; prosecutors disagree

Two civil-liberties groups are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on an increasingly relevant digital-privacy question: Do Americans have a constitutional right to keep their passwords and passcodes secret?

It’s a thorny legal issue, and one that is unsettled in the U.S., according to lawyers at the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, who on Thursday filed a petition with the Supreme Court asking it to decide the matter once and for all.

The initiative is the latest twist in a tug of war between technology companies, which have radically increased the security of their products over the past decade, and law-enforcement authorities, who have increasingly relied on digital evidence to make their cases.

Five years ago, the Justice Department tried to compel Apple Inc. to develop a way for law enforcement to access locked iPhones, but it later abandoned the quest. Investigators currently rely on private companies that essentially hack into the phones as a way to uncover the data inside.

Most states haven’t decided the password matter, said Jennifer Granick, a lawyer with the ACLU. So while U.S. law is clear that the police can’t force suspects to divulge the combination to a safe, for example, that’s not the case when it comes to an iPhone passcode. “It’s ambiguous almost everywhere,” she said.

And the state rulings are contradictory, Ms. Granick said. In Pennsylvania, the State Supreme Court has decided that law enforcement cannot force you to divulge a passcode. But the New Jersey State Supreme Court ruled in the opposite direction in August in a case involving a Newark Sheriff’s officer named Robert Andrews.

[CatOwner]

I am so thankful that I decided to never use my smartphone to access a financial or medical account, or anything that approaches being a social media site. Same goes for never waiving my smartphone over a touchless payment device. Convenience has its risks.

[MercyFlush]

What happened to the right to remain silent?

[17th Miss Regt]

What happened to the right to remain silent?

The left expects you to exercise that right when you don't like something they are doing.

[Jonty30]

I’ve never trusted any of Apple’s claims about user ID and information being confidential and firewalled against revealment.

They were always just one data dump away from giving the government everything. It is just a matter of the right moment, when there is no real repercussions from doing so.

[Old Yeller]

Remember, we’re a lawless country now.

[KrisKrinkle]

You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you.

What more is needed if we stick to that?

[Yo-Yo]

I guess the Fourth Amendment doesn’t mean anything anymore.

[alexander_busek]

[...] an increasingly relevant digital-privacy question: Do Americans have a constitutional right to keep their passwords and passcodes secret?

How about responding with, "I forgot it!"?

Regards,