Today Janet "The Bitch of Waco" Reno held a news conference announcing that, in her not-so-humble opinion, Microsoft Corporation was in violation of a consent decree by virtue of bundling Internet Explorer with Windows '95, and that she was asking for a $1 million a day fine. Ho Hum. However, one tiny item in her news conference caught my attention. It wasn't related to IE or Windows, but to company secrets protected by non-disclosure agreements. Even though Microsoft has indicated that it does not intend for its non-disclosure agreements to be binding in a way which prevents persons from disclosing anything they like to the DOJ in a criminal investigation, the Feds apparently want the concept of non-disclosure to the government scrapped. Everyone, they claim, has a "right" to speak to the government on any subject whatsoever, which cannot be abrogated by anything as flimsy as a contract or agreement, designed to protect anothers secrets. After all, the government is your friend, and is here to help you. This was made clearer when The Bitch of Waco introduced her minion, Assistant Attorney General Joel Klein. "We're asking the court to order Microsoft to tell everyone who has signed or who in the future will sign a non- disclosure agreement, that it doesn't apply to the government, period. We won't allow anyone to interfere with the people's right to provide information to their government." And there you have it. The people's right to provide their neighbor's proprietary information their government shall not be infringed. How Constitutional-Sounding. -- Eric Michael Cordian 0+ O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division "Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law"