At 11:07 AM -0800 2/15/00, Duncan Frissell wrote:
>
>A further thought. "Your Honor, the ECPA limits my ability to comply with
>your order. I can't turn over any electronic communications without a
>warrant and the warrant has to identify specific messages. I don't want to
>end up in federal prison."
Duncan makes a _terribly_ important point. The ECPA specifically says that
e-mail cannot be turned over en masse, that warrants must identify specific
messages.
However, it may be Northwest Airlines, their investigators, and the judge
who are now in hot water. I don't believe that someone threatened with
imprisonment is expected to prove the order is illegal.
In other words, the person who gave up his PC when armed men arrived at his
door has a good defense that he was not in a position to dispute them. The
onus is on those who showed up armed at his door. If they got any e-mail
that was not specifically called out for in a warrant, or got a laundry
list of hundreds of e-mails (as seems certain), then it is they who have
violated the ECPA.
Of course, no Feds have ever done a day in jail for violating the ECPA.
--Tim May
print pack"C*",split/\D+/,`echo "16iII*o\U@{$/=$z;[(pop,pop,unpack"H*",<>
)]}\EsMsKsN0[lN*1lK[d2%Sa2/d0<X+d*lMLa^*lN%0]dsXx++lMlN/dsM0<J]dsJxp"|dc`
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
ComSec 3DES: 831-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
"Cyphernomicon" | black markets, collapse of governments.
