Forced Decryption as a Foregone Conclusion

This essay examines how the Fifth Amendment Self-Incrimination Clause applies to encrypted data. In particular, it focuses on the Clause’s foregone conclusion exception, which allows the government to compel the production of information where the government reasonably knows that information exists. This essay argues that, under this exception, the government can compel a person to decrypt an encrypted hard drive and to produce the now-unencrypted data.