On Thu, 21 Jan 1999, David R. Conrad wrote:
> Doesn't this just amount to saying, "If we subpoena a document you have to
> turn it over or face the consequences"?
>
> It seems to me that a) this is relatively non-objectionable and b) this is
> probably unavoidable.
There was a US case discussed in a similar thread a year or two ago (and I
think it was on this list, although it may have been on cypherpunks) where
the issue was a safe combination, and the power of the court to hold a
person in contempt until the safe was opened. This seems similar to me to
the 'hand over the plaintext'. My recollection of the case was that US
judges could force unwilling parties to divulge combinations to safes, and
therefore by extension, could also force people to reveal passphrases or
codes that were used to protect encrypted information.
As to whether or not it is objectionable, I guess that varies. What if
the information had to do with government corruption, or the locations of
mass graves where the government had buried its political enemies? Is it
not objectionable then for the government (judicial, executive, whatever)
to compel witnesses to reveal the plaintext? Maybe it was the risk of
government access to the data that caused it to be encrypted in the first
place.
As to unavoidability, there has been discussion already on protocols that
require collusion, 'durress keys', etc. It is a goal of some systems to
make this 'avoidable'. This is part of what 'information hiding' is
about.
--
pjp
>
> > ... PLAINTEXT, not just the key. That could present problems for
> > crypto-protection by multi-jurisdictional key-splitting applications.
> >
> > Clearly, this has to be nailed down. It could get ugly.
>
> Certainly we should find out exactly what they mean, although as you know
> far better than I, we may have to wait until a French court rules on it.
>
> David R. Conrad <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> This is why I love America -- that any kid can dream "I'm going to get
> naked with the President" ... and that dream can actually come true.
> What a great country! -- Michael Moore
