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Questions tagged [secret]

18 questions
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Is religious confession legally privileged?

I'm referring to Catholic confession to a priest. I'm sure, like attorney-client privilege, that if you disclose a future crime you are planning to commit then they can and will tell the police. I'm wondering, is the secrecy of confession an actual…
Ethan
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What is the legal basis for judges being able to see classified material?

Marcy Wheeler, in her emptywheel Twitter account, recently tweeted: I addressed this question in this post. No, Cannon does not need a clearance. Her access comes via dint of her responsibilities, just like Members of Congress who need to access…
Simd
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What does the "(U)" prefixed to each paragraph denote in reports by the US Senate Select Committees?

To illustrate, here's a screenshot from page 52 of the "Postwar findings about Iraq’s WMD programs and links to terrorism and how they compare with prewar assessment", with the text transcribed here: (U) Conclusion 1: Postwar findings do not…
Pound Hash
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What is the legal case for someone getting arrested publicizing information about nuclear weapons deduced from public knowledge

I have a vague memory of a court case involving a man being prosecuted for publicizing information about nuclear weapons. He obtained that information by logic deduction and probably calculations from all the public knowledge (newspapers, tv, etc).…
Siyuan Ren
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What to do with Grandad's Top Secret documents

He worked for the US government and left behind some documents that might be actually important. What's the proper procedure here, do we destroy everything or is there somewhere we should take these?
John Jones
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If an inventor were to create a top secret invention, does this person have a legal obligation to keep it secret?

In a scenario in which an inventor was able to invent something that the government would likely classify as 'Top Secret' or even 'Born Secret', and the inventor knows that it will be classified as such, does the inventor then have a legal and/or…
user22280
4
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2 answers

Security clearance of police officers

My question is inspired by this one, but it’s not the same. It is my understanding that the federal law-enforcement officers who seized the boxes of documents held by “45” expected to find some papers that were confidential, secret, or top secret,…
Pierre Paquette
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Legality of secretly micro-chipping coins?

In the UK, we are less than a week away from the new £1 coin coming into circulation, which has been billed as 'the most high-tech coin in the world'. In an effort to reduce counterfeit, they have had a mysterious new technology integrated into…
John Smith Optional
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Can code logic be copyrighted?

Scenario: I work at company A and write some code for them which is something trivial but used in a product that is proprietary and hence the code is company property. Then I leave the company A and join company B. Company B needs something that can…
Allahjane
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What law requires me to safeguard classified information?

Let's say I have a briefcase full of Top Secret papers, and I carelessly leave it on the table at Burger King and it falls into the wrong hands. 18 U.S. Code § 798 apparently only applies if I "knowingly and willfully" provide the information to an…
Michael Hall
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What practical confidentiality protections can BSA offer to software piracy whistleblowers?

This question refers to a form for reporting software piracy. That page has an FAQ question: If I report software piracy to the BSA, will my name be kept confidential? Your name will never be revealed unless required by law. We take all…
WBT
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What recourse does a company have if their trademark is used in the name of a secret government project?

Suppose that the United States government legally commissioned a massive Top Secret weapons project. The project picks up the pet name "Mickey Mouse" for reasons that would make sense if you were working close to it, and that name starts seeping…
GGMG-he-him
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Does secret or semi-secret prior art invalidate granted patents when presented?

An example would be inventions from the former Soviet Union that were officially secret, then some became semi-secret as they leaked into the public realm but so obscure that only very narrow circles knew or were interested in knowing about…
M. Y. Zuo
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Can you be added to a watch list for asking?

So the federal government (and possibly state and local governments) of the United States of America keep watch lists, for criminals, terrorists, suspects, and sometimes non-criminals. I understand you can legally require the government to tell you…
Eliter
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Are secret societies legal?

What is the legal status of secret societies? Some assumptions on these societies to restrict the question: 1) They are not involved in unlawful activities in the countries in which members operate. 2) They may be concerned about politics or…
Rexcirus
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