Encryption defense attorney fights DOJ demands (Q&A)

by Declan McCullagh
CNET News
Jul. 14, 2011

The U.S. Department of Justice is determined to make sure that a case in Colorado will set a legal precedent allowing it to force Americans accused of crimes to decrypt their computers' hard drives.

Phil Dubois is equally determined not to let that happen. The Colorado Springs-based attorney is representing Ramona Fricosu, accused of a mortgage scam, who is refusing to divulge the passphrase to an encrypted laptop found in her bedroom.

Colorado Springs attorney Phil Dubois, who once represented PGP creator Phil Zimmermann, now finds himself fighting the feds over encryption a second time.

Dubois, who specializes in criminal defense and Internet law, says requiring Fricosu to decrypt the hard drive would be a clear violation of his client's Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. The case is currently before U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn, and Dubois says if he loses, he'll appeal.

It's not Dubois' first encounter with encryption and threats of criminal prosecution. In the 1990s, he represented PGP creator Phil Zimmermann when the programmer was being investigated for allegedly exporting the encryption utility by posting it publicly online. The charges were dropped in 1996.

Dubois has also represented hackers and the owner of Clue.com, who was sued by Hasbro, the multibillion-dollar toy maker and manufacturer of the mystery board game Clue, because the company believed it should have the rights to that domain. Hasbro lost.

CNET spoke with Dubois about his current case, privacy, encryption, and the state of electronic civil liberties. Below is a transcript, lightly edited for space.

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