Mike Godwin Re: Is there a lawyer in the house?

[John Gilmore <gnu@toad.com>]

From: Mike Godwin <mnemonic@well.com>
Subject: Re: [Black Unicorn: Re: Is there a lawyer in the house?]
Date: Mon, 11 Dec 1995 13:27:34 -0800 (PST)
 
> The question is whether the government can legally compel production
> of your encryption key(s) if you give them to another person, such as
> an escrow agent of your choice, your lawyer, your wife, your bank,
> your web site provider, or whoever.

Compelling the key from the person you gave it to is easy. (That is,
the answer there is yes, assuming no independent claim of non-Fifth
Amendment-derived privilege.)

Whether you have given it to another person does not automatically make it
easier to compel the key from you. But under certain circumstances (and
in certain jurisdictions) it might -- such as if, for example, you were
relying on a "last link" rule to bar your disclosure of the key. If you 
were arguing that the disclosure of the key would be a "last link" in a
chain of inculpatory causation, and it could be shown independently that
you had already disclosed the key to someone else, thereby proving that
you possessed the key at one time, your having done so might undermine
your "last link" argument.

Feel free to forward this.

--Mike