Man was sentenced to 180 days in jail for not giving police cell phone password

The legal system is still catching up to the digital age. Can police force you to hand over your password to open your phone?

A Hollywood man was sentenced this week to 180 days in jail for refusing to hand over his iPhone password to police. On Thursday’s “Pat & Stu,” Jason Buttrill talked about security and your rights when it comes to sharing your password with the police.

“This is a slippery, slippery slope in my opinion,” Jason said.

Smartphones have been the subject of multiple court cases, including when Apple went head-to-head with the FBI over whether the company would work to unlock a terrorist shooter’s iPhone. After Apple refused to create an update that would make it easier to open the iPhone, the FBI paid $900,000 to a hacker to open Syed Farook’s phone.

Jason reminded the audience that it is your right to remain silent until you speak to a lawyer, whether or not you’ve done anything wrong.

“Did you not watch ‘Better Call Saul’?” he asked. “You need to lawyer up.”

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