Aimee Green, Oregon Live:

Police wanted to search the contents of an iPhone they found in Catrice Pittman’s purse, but she never confirmed whether it was hers and wasn’t offering up a passcode. Her defense attorney argued forcing her to do so would violate her rights against self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Article 1 Section 12 of the Oregon Constitution.

But a Marion County judge sided with police and prosecutors by ordering Pittman to enter her passcode. On Wednesday, the Oregon Court of Appeals agreed with that ruling — in a first-of-its-kind opinion for an appeals court in this state.

This is a precedent that will resonate, make it more likely that courts will order defendants to unlock their phones.

Side note, I found this sequence very interesting:

Scott said the ruling won’t affect many Oregon defendants whose phones are seized by police because police already have technology that allows them to crack into most of those phones.

But:

The latest iPhones, more often than other phones, have proven difficult, Scott said.

“For people who want their information private, I would recommend getting an iPhone,” Scott said. “And Apple is not paying me to say that.”

Yet another reason to buy an iPhone.