A federal judge today halted an order that a Wisconsin man decrypt 16 computer drives the authorities suspect contain child pornography downloaded from the peer-to-peer file-sharing site e-Donkey.
The brief ruling (.pdf) by U.S. District Judge Rudolph Randa of Milwaukee came a day after the suspect's attorney urged Randa to halt a magistrate's earlier order that Jeffrey Feldman decrypt the drives by today or potentially face indefinite detention until he complied.
Because of legal complexities, the magistrate judge in the case stepped aside and the case was assigned Monday to Randa, who today ordered the government and Feldman's counsel to brief "the issue of Feldman's Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination."
Feldman's attorney Robin Shellow has characterized the issue as "one of the most important constitutional issues" in the digital era. She said today that she would "move heaven and earth" to ensure that "the infinitesimal amount of child pornography that recirculates on the internet does not eradicate the Fifth Amendment the way the war on drugs has eviscerated the Fourth Amendment."
Prosectors did not respond for comment.
In our earlier story today on the decryption flap, we delve into the legal complexities of the issue and the novel defense that Shellow is making.
