Re: "Contempt" charges likely to increase

[frantz@netcom.com (Bill Frantz)]

At 11:57 AM 4/5/96 -0800, Timothy C. May wrote:

>If the secrets or assets _cannot_ be retrieved--a scenario which is
>possible, if the protocol is so written (clauses for court action)--then
>contempt charges are meaningless and would not stand, IMNALO.

The Black Unicorn indicates that if the reason the secrets _cannot_ be
retrieved is because they are in a jurisdiction which refuses to reveal
them when the owner is under compulsion, the owner can still be punished
for contempt (A contractual situation).

I don't know what would happen if they _cannot_ be retrieved for technical
reasons.  If a communication key was aggreeded to be DH exchange and then
discarded, I would think this would be analogous to asking for a document
that was destroyed (before the subpoena) as part of a policy of destroying
obsolete documents.


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