[44935] in Cypherpunks
Re: Is there a lawyer in the house?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Michael Froomkin)
Thu Dec 7 20:54:40 1995
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 1995 20:49:51 -0500 (EST)
From: Michael Froomkin <froomkin@law.miami.edu>
To: "Timothy C. May" <tcmay@got.net>
Cc: cypherpunks@toad.com
In-Reply-To: <acecb41c02021004f4ed@[205.199.118.202]>
If Alice gives Bob her key and Bob is not a person with whom Alice has a
special relationship of trust (e.g. her lawyer), then Alice has no legal
grounds to complain if Bob *voluntarily* gives Carol, a Cop, Alice's
key.
If Alice gives Bob her key and Bob is not a person with whom Alice has a
special relationship of trust (e.g. her lawyer), then Alice has no legal
grounds to complain if Carol, a Cop, serves Bob with a valid warrant to
seize Alice's key and in fact does so.
Furthermore, there are circumstances in some states where even if there
is a special relationship of trust Bob either may at his discretion or in
some rarer cases may be forced to divulge the key. E.g. to prevent a
crime that is about to be committed likely to involve loss of life.
A. Michael Froomkin | +1 (305) 284-4285; +1 (305) 284-6506 (fax)
Associate Professor of Law |
U. Miami School of Law | froomkin@law.miami.edu
P.O. Box 248087 | http://www.law.miami.edu/~froomkin
Coral Gables, FL 33124 USA | It's warm here.
