"Got a subpoena?"

[David Mandl <dmandl@bear.com>]

On Thu, 30 Nov 1995, sameer wrote:

> 	Community ConneXion will comply with all properly formed court
> orders and subpeonas. We will *not* cooperate without court
> intervention. (I.e. Mr. FBI calls up and says "can you help us find
> this suspect"? I respond "got a subpoena?")

But it's not quite that simple, Sameer.  Don't underestimate the more
subtle forms of non-cooperation you can engage in.

To use the most obvious example, different remailer operators turn
different levels of logging on.  So one operator will say "Yes, I am
obligated to fully comply with your subpoena, officer.  Here are the
full logs for the last six months."  And another will say "Yes, I am
obligated to fully comply with your subpoena, officer.  However, I
keep no logs at all of the mail sent through my remailer.  Drag, huh?"

Being the eternal pessimist, I once again point out that the
government will try to stop cryptoanarchy any way they can.  Their
main tool is the law, and they WILL use it eventually when all else
fails.  Personally, I would play it safe by operating on the
assumption that basically EVERYTHING will be illegal eventually and
"finessing" laws will become more important.  In short, they WILL have
a subpoena--then what?

Of course, I personally would never do anything illegal.

   --Dave.

--
David Mandl
Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc.
Phone: (212) 272-3888
Email: dmandl@bear.com

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