On the lighter side (not to be taken seriously): Q: What if Alice and Bob are siamese twins? Could we imagine a constitutional test that turns on whether a majority of organs are shared? Could the dissent cite the fact that some of the shared organs are not vital? Q2: Better yet, what if Alice and Bob were only 2 of say 6 distinct personality manifestations exhibited by one physical person? Again, would we need to arrange for a consensus among at least 2 more personalities to form a majority, thus entitling the collective to shared privacy? The answers to these and other exciting questions on the next episode of "Exhaust that Thread." At 01:27 AM 12/10/95 -0500, you wrote:

On Fri, 8 Dec 1995, Black Unicorn wrote:

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On Thu, 7 Dec 1995, Jeff Weinstein wrote:

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Black Unicorn wrote:

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On Thu, 7 Dec 1995, sameer wrote:

How about if Bob had a contractual agreement with Alice to keep his key secret?

Then as a defense attorney, I would argue that Bob had an obvious expectation of privacy with Alice, and that the fact that he relayed this key to Alice only under those circumstances represents a definite expression of his intent to keep the key private, thus triggering 4th amendment protections. My view is that this would be a very strong argument.

Bob's Fourth Amendment rights are not triggered by his contract with Alice. Alice can be compelled to give up the key (by testimony or production) and giving up that key does not tend to incriminate *Alice* in a violation of law. Alice can't invoke Bob's rights against self-incrimination for obvious reasons: Alice isn't Bob. ^^^^ EBD

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Note that this is an academic opinion, not a legal one as I am not being paid.

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--Jeff

-- Jeff Weinstein - Electronic Munitions Specialist Netscape Communication Corporation jsw@netscape.com - http://home.netscape.com/people/jsw Any opinions expressed above are mine.

--- My prefered and soon to be permanent e-mail address: unicorn@schloss.li "In fact, had Bancroft not existed, potestas scientiae in usu est Franklin might have had to invent him." in nihilum nil posse reverti 00B9289C28DC0E55 E16D5378B81E1C96 - Finger for Current Key Information

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