Is It Criminal To Withhold Passwords?

Former Philadelphia police sergeant Francis Rawls has not been charged with a crime, but he has been in custody for nearly a year because he refuses to give investigators access to his encrypted electronic devices. Police suspect that Rawls has child pornography on his computer, but Rawls’ defense team maintain he has a constitutional right against self-incrimination. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia is grappling with the case. “Are you asking us to ignore the Fourth Amendment?” Judge Thomas I. Vanaskie asked during a hearing last week. In March 2015, the Delaware County District Attorney’s office identified Rawls as a suspect in an investigation of a website called Freenet, which allowed users to share child porn. But authorities were unable to unlock devices found in Rawls’ home, including an iPhone, Apple computer, and two external hard drives. “It is a memorized security code that exists in his own mind, and is therefore protected by the Fifth Amendment,” said Keith M. Donaghue, Rawls’ attorney.