Re:Ethereum Foundation removes their canary
by neilv on Wednesday March 20, 2024 @01:59PM
(#39770010)
IANAL, but I'd think that hurting your possible future defense is what you just said, and what people always say: that the premeditated intent is to violate a potential future gag, and that removing the canary (or not updating a cryptographic signature, or resetting to 0 the "__ days since last served a subpoena" notice) is a mechanism for that violation.
IMHO, that's kinda a weaselly trick, no matter how good the cause, and it might not stand up, not legally, nor in extra-legal practice.
Re:Ethereum Foundation removes their canary
by djaykay on Wednesday March 20, 2024 @01:48PM
(#39769882)
That doesn’t seem functionally different than removing the canary.
Re:Ethereum Foundation removes their canary
by supermatt on Wednesday March 20, 2024 @01:51PM
(#39769927)
Removing the canary requires action. Not resigning a canary requires inaction.
Re:Ethereum Foundation removes their canary
by kspacewalk2 on Wednesday March 20, 2024 @01:58PM
(#39770001)
I strongly doubt a judge will care to distinguish the two.
Re:Ethereum Foundation removes their canary
by greyface- on Wednesday March 20, 2024 @02:17PM
(#39770179)
Doubt all you want. Can you point to case law?
Re:Ethereum Foundation removes their canary
by 123yawaworht456 on Wednesday March 20, 2024 @02:04PM
(#39770055)
that would be compelled speech
Re:Ethereum Foundation removes their canary
by canoebuilder on Wednesday March 20, 2024 @02:26PM
(#39770263)
Why did you do this thing 2 weeks ago?
vs
Why didn’t you do this thing 2 weeks ago that you were under no legal obligation to do?
Seems like a significant and valid distinction even if what they communicate to the intended audience is largely the same.
“Largely the same” because in the second case it would be possible that forgetting, or some other obstacle to resigning occurred.
Re:Ethereum Foundation removes their canary
by ynniv on Wednesday March 20, 2024 @01:51PM
(#39769922)
Things break all the time! Usually they get fixed, but sometimes you're just too busy to get around to it.
Re:Ethereum Foundation removes their canary
by 0cf8612b2e1e on Wednesday March 20, 2024 @01:55PM
(#39769971)
Not a lawyer, but I think the government has more ability to prevent you from doing something than forcing you to act.
They can tell you to not remove the canary, and not tell anyone your logs are being monitored, but it is trickier for them to say you must re-sign this certificate.
Re:Ethereum Foundation removes their canary
by autoexecbat on Wednesday March 20, 2024 @01:54PM
(#39769954)
That sounds like much more of a nuanced law question than a "are these the same".
While they might be able to stop you telling the world, they might not be able to force you to perform actions that cause you to lie to the public
Although... I also don't see much use in them either, it seems everyone ends up complying with something eventually and so all canaries end up getting removed.