From: Black Unicorn <unicorn@schloss.li>
Date: Fri, 8 Dec 95 00:58:15 PST
To: Cypherpunks Mailing List <cypherpunks@toad.com>
Subject: Re: Is there a lawyer in the house?
In-Reply-To: <199512080554.AAA05788@opine.cs.umass.edu>
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.91.951208035603.18878F-100000@polaris.mindport.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


On Fri, 8 Dec 1995, Futplex wrote:

> Black Unicorn writes:
> > Yes.  I have seen holdings which indicate that information given to an 
> > employer, where there was no obvious expection that it be kept 
> > confidential, estopped 4th amendment protections to its introduction when 
> > obtained without a warrant.
> [...and...]
> > Again, because of the nature of the relationship.  There is an 
> > expectation that a conversation with an attorney is one of the most 
> > private exchanges you can engage in.  As for rare exceptions, I'm not so 
> > sure I would term them rare.
> 
> What happens if I disclose a key to my employer's corporate law firm ?
> Does that clearly lie one way or the other, or would it likely hinge upon 
> the conditions under which I came to reveal the key ?

This becomes highly speculative.

My inclination is to say that it would hinge on the conditions under 
which you tendered the key to the legal department of your employer.  
This is a question of law, and would probably depend as much on the judge 
as on the circumstances.  Remember, 4th amendment rulings AGAINST the 
prosecution are very tough for a judge to make, because they usually mean 
excluding evidence key to the prosecution's case, and most often they 
arise in circumstances where the defendant looks guilty as sin.

> -Futplex <futplex@pseudonym.com>

---
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