While there are some exceptions (breathalizer and blood tests, identity information, etc., for example) the target of an investigation is under no obligation to provide _any_ information to the authorities. This means that the target is under no obligation to provide passwords, etc.
Further, if faced with one of these situations you must understand that the police are going to take your equipment, disks, etc., regardless of what you do or say, so the best thing is to say _nothing_ to them. You should politely cooperate with them in loading up your equipment, request a detailed inventory of what is being taken, including a statement that all items being taken are in good operating condition and repair. You should then tell them that you will contact them with the name and telephone number of your lawyer and that all future contact should be through your lawyer. If you are a student, most universities or student governments have legal aid programs available.
One other thing to be wary of: If the law enforcement people involved are federal, and you _do_ choose to talk to them (even though that is a very dumb thing to do), be sure that you tell them the _whole_ truth and don't leave out anything. If you do, there is a possibility (slight in most cases, but definitely there) that you could be charged with making a false statement to a federal officer, a felony, even if you are not otherwise guilty of any crime. Remember Henry Cisneros, who was charged with that very thing.
Cops have a lot of "tricks" for obtaining information, none of them illegal. The one I like the most is not arresting someone until they get to the station house and not saying a word to them on the drive there. Usually the suspects will happily blab away simply to fill the empty air. Anything useful can be used even though the suspect has not been Merandized because the cop didn't actually ask the suspect anything.
Courts have a doctrine called the "best evidence rule." Copies are not admissible if the original is available. This applies to both paper and electronic records.
Several years ago when I was still practicing as a lawyer one of our partners had his laptop stolen from the back of his car. Since this guy had his clue bit set, he had set the BIOS password. Of course we reported the theft to the police and alsocalled local computer shops. Sure enough, several days later a guy came into one of them and wanted help "fixing the hard drive". The mounties were called, the laptop was recovered and the perp was taken away forthwith. We considered ourselves lucky because there was information on the laptop covering something like 30 cases that our guy was involved with at the time.
As a result of that theft we thought about the problem and did the following: (1) Set the BIOS passwords on all laptops; (2) Got copies of Norton "Your Eyes Only" for all laptops [product no longer available, but it basically set up an encrypted partition]; (3) Set up a script to synch the laptop to the network whenever someone logged in at the office; and (4) Bought those cable locks for each laptop.
Now, in addition, I would (A) Change to a more secure OS than Windows 98; (B) Consider an encrypted filesystem [Cryptographic File System or Transparent Cryptographic File System, both for Linux]; (C) Buy a Defcon One instead of just a lock; (D) Buy one of those proximity alarmsthat sounds if your bag gets more than 15 or so feet away from you [for airports, etc.]; and (E) Buy one of those backup hard disks with a PC card attached to make backups while on the road.
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While there are some exceptions (breathalizer and blood tests, identity information, etc., for example) the target of an investigation is under no obligation to provide _any_ information to the authorities. This means that the target is under no obligation to provide passwords, etc. Further, if faced with one of these situations you must understand that the police are going to take your equipment, disks, etc., regardless of what you do or say, so the best thing is to say _nothing_ to them. You should politely cooperate with them in loading up your equipment, request a detailed inventory of what is being taken, including a statement that all items being taken are in good operating condition and repair. You should then tell them that you will contact them with the name and telephone number of your lawyer and that all future contact should be through your lawyer. If you are a student, most universities or student governments have legal aid programs available. One other thing to be wary of: If the law enforcement people involved are federal, and you _do_ choose to talk to them (even though that is a very dumb thing to do), be sure that you tell them the _whole_ truth and don't leave out anything. If you do, there is a possibility (slight in most cases, but definitely there) that you could be charged with making a false statement to a federal officer, a felony, even if you are not otherwise guilty of any crime. Remember Henry Cisneros, who was charged with that very thing. Cops have a lot of "tricks" for obtaining information, none of them illegal. The one I like the most is not arresting someone until they get to the station house and not saying a word to them on the drive there. Usually the suspects will happily blab away simply to fill the empty air. Anything useful can be used even though the suspect has not been Merandized because the cop didn't actually ask the suspect anything.
Courts have a doctrine called the "best evidence rule." Copies are not admissible if the original is available. This applies to both paper and electronic records.
Several years ago when I was still practicing as a lawyer one of our partners had his laptop stolen from the back of his car. Since this guy had his clue bit set, he had set the BIOS password. Of course we reported the theft to the police and alsocalled local computer shops. Sure enough, several days later a guy came into one of them and wanted help "fixing the hard drive". The mounties were called, the laptop was recovered and the perp was taken away forthwith. We considered ourselves lucky because there was information on the laptop covering something like 30 cases that our guy was involved with at the time. As a result of that theft we thought about the problem and did the following: (1) Set the BIOS passwords on all laptops; (2) Got copies of Norton "Your Eyes Only" for all laptops [product no longer available, but it basically set up an encrypted partition]; (3) Set up a script to synch the laptop to the network whenever someone logged in at the office; and (4) Bought those cable locks for each laptop. Now, in addition, I would (A) Change to a more secure OS than Windows 98; (B) Consider an encrypted filesystem [Cryptographic File System or Transparent Cryptographic File System, both for Linux]; (C) Buy a Defcon One instead of just a lock; (D) Buy one of those proximity alarmsthat sounds if your bag gets more than 15 or so feet away from you [for airports, etc.]; and (E) Buy one of those backup hard disks with a PC card attached to make backups while on the road.