Roll The Dice - Send An Email In Nevada

Link: Legal Blog Watch. Law Vegas, Nevada, the protector of little secrets, now has a law apparently, that puts some teeth into the "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" bromide. Thanks to Larry Bodine and Carolyn Elefant for the heads up. The new law, effective October 1, 2008, makes criminal any email containing personal information sent by businesses, including lawyers and law firms, that is not encrypted. I suspect that a lot of Nevada lawyers will be brushing up on PGP encryption. Of course, the law may be as flawed Constitutionally as a rigged dice table; but, would you be willing to take a chance? I don't think I will be applying for the Nevada State Bar anytime soon.

Comments

[Legal Transcription]

Wow that's interesting. Tough laws eh? Is this the only state that does this?

[William]

If you look at Nevada Revised Statute 205.4742, you can satisfy 'encryption' by simply using MS Word's password feature requiring a password to read the file. It doesn't require actual encryption, just something that can 'prevent, impede, delay, or disrupt' access to the information. You could convert it to pig-latin and it would impedeway orway elayday access to the information in a way that satisfies the 'encryption' requirement of this statute.

Massachusetts implemented a much higher standard for transmitting personal information - encryption 'to the extent possible' is what I believe the Massachusetts statute requires, which goes into effect this January I think.