Yahoo Finance Child Porn Suspect Appeals In Password Case
A US police officer imprisoned for refusing to decrypt his hard drives following a child pornography investigation has launched an appeal to be released.
Francis Rawls was remanded in custody in October after being found in contempt of court for refusing an order to hand over his Apple 'File Vault' passwords to detectives.
He was told he would be incarcerated until he complies.
Police had searched Rawls' home and seized an Apple Mac Pro, an iPhone 6 and two external hard drives after his sister alleged they had viewed indecent images of children together.
An expert said it was his "best guess" that the hard drives contained child abuse images after Pennsylvania prosecutors had monitored anonymous peer-to-peer file sharing service Freenet.
The 36-year-old Philadelphia police sergeant was suspended from duty following his arrest and has reportedly told officers he cannot remember the encryption codes.
Rawls' lawyer has filed an appeal arguing his indefinite detention without charge is unconstitutional as it breaches the Fifth Amendment that prevents self-incrimination.
He has so far spent seven months in Philadelphia's Federal Detention Centre.
The original ruling referred to case law which recognised that "civil contempt orders are intended to be coercive … and do not require a jury trial.
"The contemnor will be released subject to compliance with some condition. He is thus understood to carry the keys of his prison in his own pocket."
The court applied the All Writs Act 1789, the same law the Justice Department tried to use against Apple over its refusal to hack into the phone of one of the people who carried out the San Bernardino attack.
