is a possibility. I am as committed as I have ever been to Deep Connectedness. But Deep Connectedness is not without responsibility.’ He went on to explain what he was planning to do and why. He ended by saying that he knew some people would be unhappy, even outraged, but that he hoped in time they would understand. ‘Exceptional circumstances call for exceptional responses,’ he concluded. ‘If these days, after the tragedy in Denver, do not call for an exceptional response from all of us, I can’t imagine what would. Like all of us, Fishbowl must honour its obligation.’
At around 6 a.m. he read it over for the last time. Then he posted it in the Grotto, logged out, and went to sleep.
22
THE PHONE WOKE him. James Langan’s voice was apoplectic with rage.
‘I just felt it was important for me to say something,’ said Andrei – or tried to, a number of times, but he couldn’t break into the COO’s tirade.
‘Do you know what this does? It admits liability! Not just for us, for the entire internet! For all of social networking! It’s so … stupid! So unnecessary! We said no one was going to do anything until this morning! We agreed! You cannot do things like this! This is a business, Andrei! It’s not a high-school hobby. Sometimes I don’t think you get that. Look at the way you live. I am not coming to your house again! It’s disgusting. I cannot think in that environment. If we need to meet outside the office, we meet somewhere else. And you need to get control of Kevin. It absolutely is not OK that he talks to the press whenever he wants. And it’s not OK that he diverts engineers onto projects that we’ve already agreed we’re going to stop. He only does that because you let him. We’re working in chaos …’ It went on. Frustrations that had been buried in James since joining the company burst out of him. Finally he pulled himself up. ‘Where are you, anyway?’ he demanded.
‘I’m in bed. I was up all night.’
‘Well, get over here. We need to get to the lawyer. We need to talk before the FBI guys arrive.’
When Andrei got to the office, James was still so angry he could barely speak to him. Andrei had thrown on the nearest clothes to hand, which were the same T-shirt and jeans he had worn the previous day. They got a cab and sat wordlessly side by side on the way to the lawyer’s office.
The lawyer, a small woman in her forties called Angela Dustin, succinctly laid out the minimum level of cooperation that was required of Fishbowl by law. Andrei told her that he anticipated going beyond that.
‘That’s a matter for you, Mr Koss.’
‘Would that prejudice us in the future?’ asked James, not so much as exchanging a glance with Andrei.
‘In what respect?’ asked Dustin.
‘In that we might be required to do the same again in similar circumstances.’
‘From a purely legal perspective, no. That you have cooperated to a degree in excess of that required by law does not automatically and of itself create a new threshold that you could be required to meet in another instance, even if it were identical to this. However, I would normally not advise a client to take that path, because from a practical point of view it would considerably increase the pressure you would experience from law enforcement authorities in the future, and although this is not a strict question of law, these forms of pressure can be extremely difficult to resist. On the other hand, if you establish in the first instance that your policy is to comply with the requirements of the law and only those requirements, you create an expectation in the future that helps shield you from—’
Andrei got up. Dustin looked at him in surprise. ‘When they get here,’ said Andrei, ‘I want you to tell them we’ll give them anything they can reasonably expect to relate to the bombing, but nothing else. If we decide they’re asking for something irrelevant, and they can’t convince us otherwise, then they can get a court order and do it the usual way. And if they find anything in what we give them related to any other crime, they can’t use it. That needs to be explicit. There needs to be some kind of agreement in writing or something. Can you say that to them?’
‘I can say anything you like, Mr Koss. Whether they’ll