Slashdot Mirror
Man Sentenced To 180 Days In Jail For Refusing To Give Police His iPhone Passcode (miamiherald.com)
schwit1 quotes a report from Miami Herald: A Hollywood man must serve 180 days in jail for refusing to give up his iPhone password to police, a Broward judge ruled Tuesday -- the latest salvo in intensifying legal battles over law-enforcement access to smartphones. Christopher Wheeler, 41, was taken into custody in a Broward Circuit Court, insisting he had already provided the pass code to police investigating him for child abuse, although the number did not work. "I swear, under oath, I've given them the password," a distraught Wheeler, his hands handcuffed behind his back, told Circuit Judge Michael Rothschild, who earlier in May found the man guilty of contempt of court. As Wheeler was jailed Tuesday, the same issue was unfolding in Miami-Dade for a man accused of extorting a social-media celebrity over stolen sex videos. That man, Wesley Victor, and his girlfriend had been ordered by a judge to produce a passcode to phones suspected of containing text messages showing their collusion in an extortion plot. Victor claimed he didn't remember the number. He prevailed. On Tuesday, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Charles Johnson ruled that there was no way to prove that Victor actually remembered his passcode, more than 10 months after his initial arrest. Johnson declined to hold the man in contempt of court. Wheeler will eventually be allowed to post bond pending an appeal. If he gives up a working pass code, he'll be allowed out of jail, Judge Rothschild told him.
Christopher Wheeler, 41, is in Hollywood, currently facing child abuse charges. The password he gave to the police did not work. His argument is that compelling him to give the police the password is moot because he already gave it. The fact that it is wrong is not his fault for not remembering it correctly. The Judge was not moved and sentenced him to 180 days. The police are giving the explanation for needing the phone because they "suspect he has more abuse pictures on there" -- sounds pretty thin. We don't know. In Florida , A man was jailed for 10 months, on some charge. His lawyer successfully argued that his client cannot give the password because after 10 months away from his phone he cannot remember it. These cases show that the law has no idea how to handle encryption. There is an assumption on the part of law enforcement and those in power that the right to privacy is not something to be protected just an obstacle to be overcome, usually by breaking the rules first and justifying it later. You are supposed to be able to keep your mouth shut. This includes not being forced to reveal documents, recordings, hidden personal belongings, etc. Apparently many prosecutors feel this is a gray area. It is not. But in this Trumpian world we have today, it seems you can escape the law if it makes some people feel better, or it boosts your popularity. The politics of it are "If we can show that by violating this person;s rights, we can convict him, then society will turn a blind eye to the violation." This is the plot of every action movie, every TV cop show, every "hero save the day by breaking the rules" plot. But they never get to the point after where after the rule is broken by the hero, it no longer exists. Once we let these guys jail us for not giving the keys, it then happens to everyone not powerful enough to stop it. We caught a "Child Abuser" so called. So who needs rights? The false equivalency of violating accused persons rights is alright depending on what they are accused of is a Soviet-Era ploy old as time. Old as the story of Robin Hood, which never actually happened, and was a political/religious propaganda story from its origin. State Power vs Citizen rights is always tested, and the argument is always the same -- the people in power claim moral necessity to initially break the right, then just do it as normal proctice afterwards. Until they are stopped by the people.