[12646] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Gov demanding PGP key
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (DAN L. BURK)
Wed May 25 05:07:45 1994
Date: 24 May 94 23:19:00 EST
From: "DAN L. BURK" <DBURK@gmuvax.gmu.edu>
To: "com-priv" <com-priv@psi.com>
Willis Marti writes:
> -What would you suggest?
>
> I'd suggest the prosecutor prove the allegation some legtimate way, in some
> manner that avoids violating the Constitution. If this was not a criminal
> case, do you think the government has the right to compell you to disclose
> anything it wants?
As I mentioned in my previous post, refusal to obey a subpeona is likely to
be *civil* contempt, not criminal. If it were criminal, a bunch of extra due
process rights would kick in.
The misunderstanding here seems to be that it's not the government ordering
production, its *the court.* The prosecutor makes his arguments, the defense
makes theirs, and the court decides. If the court decides the subpeona should
issue, then refusal is an affront to the inherent authority of the court, and
will be dealt with as contempt.
The moral to the story is that if you can't convince the court not to issue the
subpeona in the first place, you're either going to have to comply or spend an
indefinite amount of time in the county jail (not prison, mind you -- you won't
have been charged or convicted of a *crime.*)
Dan L. Burk
dburk@gmuvax.gmu.edu
