Re: subpoenas of personal papers

[Ron Davis <rondavis@datawatch.com>]

>I just saw a news story that bears on one of the perpetual questions on
>this newsgroup:  can you be compelled to turn over your encryption
>key?  In Doe vs. U.S. (93-523), the Supreme Court declined to rule on
>whether or not someone can be forced to turn over his personal
>appointment calendar.  By doing so, they let stand an Appeals Court
>(2nd Circuit) that he could *not* invoke the Fifth Amendment.  That
>court ruled that ``testimony'' was protected, but not personal papers.
>There was a Supreme Court ruling in 1886 protecting such papers, but
>that's been eroded over the years, and the Supreme Court has ruled
>several times that business records are not protected.  And in a
>concurring opinion in 1986, O'Connor wrote ``The Fifth Amendment
>provides absolutely no protection for the contents of private papers of
>any kind''.


        Being a relative newbie to cypherpunks I realize I'm posting at my
        own risk...

        It is my understanding that you can be compelled to at least
provide            
        decrypted information.  In other words the court can say, "We want
        your PGP e-mail, deliever it to us in an unencrypted form."  A question
        may be how they could prove you didn't alter the information while
        decrypting.  This could be acomplished by supervising you while you
        decrypted the info, with attorneys for both parties present.  Of course
        an attorney could still argue you could change it and want the court
        to do the actual decryption, therefore demanding you turn over your key.

___________________________________________________________________________
"I want to know God's thoughts...the rest are details."
                                           -- Albert Einstein
_________________________________________
Ron Davis                                  rondavis@datawatch.com       
Datawatch, Research Triangle Park, NC      (919)549-0711