Reverse search warrants are requests made by law enforcement to a technology company seeking caches of data that could be relevant to a criminal investigation.
The erosion of individual privacy rights within federal law enforcement agencies directly correlates with the rise of unchecked agency power, particularly in the realm of national security agencies such as the CIA and, post-9/11, the National Security Agency.
The general constitutional issue under review is this: does allowing police to force a criminal defendant to provide the passcode for a cell phone violate the Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination?
