ACLU, EFF Ask SCOTUS to Hear 5th Amendment Case on Digital Passwords
The Supreme Court should hear Andrews v. New Jersey on law enforcement access to phone and computer passwords, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed Thursday. A prosecutor secured a court order directing Essex County sheriff's…
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officer Robert Andrews to turn over passwords for two cellphones. Andrews challenged, citing Fifth Amendment protections, but the New Jersey State Supreme Court said those protections don’t apply to passwords. “The Fifth Amendment protects us from being forced to give police a combination to a wall safe,” said Jennifer Granick, ACLU surveillance and cybersecurity counsel. “That same protection should extend to our phone and computer passwords, which can give access to far more sensitive information than any wall safe could.” SCOTUS said in October it wouldn't hear a similar Pennsylvania cellphone privacy case (docket 19-1254) on when it’s permissible for police to require someone to unlock an encrypted device (see 2010050042).