Re: 5th AMENDMENT & DECRYPTION

One might, of course, validly ask what the potential penalty would be for failing to divulge the key. Presumably, you would be held to be in contempt of court and sent off to jail until you divulged the key -- but at best you are likely to be locked up for a few months before the judge gives up. Given that, one can make a decision on whether the data you had encrypted is worth the loss of a few months of your life. (Remember, by the way, that merely having been in contempt is not nearly the same as having, say, a felony conviction on your record.) So even if they might have an argument for why they should be able to order you to give them a key, that doesn't mean that they have any real way to get it -- you can still fail to hand it over if you are willing to pay the price. Perry
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pmetzger@shearson.com