Caren Myers Morrison (Georgia State University – College of Law) has posted Passwords, Profiles, and the Privilege Against Self-Incrimination: Facebook and the Fifth Amendment (Arkansas Law Review, Forthcoming) on SSRN.  Here is the abstract: 

While Facebook has become ubiquitous in most people’s lives, it is also making increasingly frequent appearances in criminal cases. In the past few years, Facebook has emerged as a fertile source of incriminating information from boastful or careless defendants who find in Facebook a great way to project their outlaw persona to the world.

But does the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination shield someone who has posted incriminating information on his Facebook page from being forced to disclose his password or provide access to his profile?

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