this post was submitted on 26 Jul 2026
170 points (98.9% liked)
Privacy
10419 readers
449 users here now
A community for Lemmy users interested in privacy
Rules:
- Be civil
- No spam posting
- Keep posts on-topic
- No trolling
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
That's not really true but it's also not what is happening here. The duress pin wipes the device so this is destruction of evidence.
It is absolutely true. The fifth amendment means US citizens have a right to silence. It has already been ruled that neither the government nor the courts can compel someone to divulge a password under those fifth amendment protections, which is why former mayor Eric Adams was able to avoid having his phone searched by the FBI.
Whether this is destruction of evidence or not will be a decision made by the courts (it's a question at the heart of the matter in the first place), and the facts that he was allegedly repeatedly denied access to a lawyer and not read his Miranda rights are both things that are decidedly in his favor for getting the case tossed before that question is even addressed.
It isn't. Check out United States v. Apple MacPro Computer and NJ v. Andrews.
Regardless, the point remains that the subject at hand is destruction of evidence and not password compulsion.
I did. To be perfectly frank, I think they are wrong. They even said that divulging the contents of your mind is protected by the fifth amendment, but they also say that noncommunicative actions (like entering a password) are not. So you can't be compelled to say what your password is verbally, but you can be compelled to essentially write it? Absolute horseshit.
Anyway, you are correct that this is more about alleged destruction of evidence. Hopefully the court isn't able to rule on that at all due to the case being tossed.
That phone wasn't evidence of anything, and all he did was give them a password when they asked for one. Not under oath
Which...promptly destroyed any evidence?
evidence of what?
No one knows, because it was destroyed...