Plausible deniability: Encyclopedia II - Plausible deniability - Other examples of plausible denial

Plausible deniability - Other examples of plausible denial

Another example of plausible deniability is someone who actively avoids gaining certain knowledge of facts because it benefits that person not to know.

As an example, an unscrupulous attorney may suspect that facts exist which would hurt his case, but decide not to investigate the issue because if the attorney had actual knowledge, the rules of ethics might require him to reveal those facts to the opposing side. Thus his failure to investigate maintains plausible deniability.

Plausible deniability - Murder in the Cathedral

King Henry II of England is credited with the stating quite publicly, "who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?" This saying resulted in the assassination of Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket, although the king denied that his plea was to be taken in such a way.

Plausible deniability - Freenet file sharing

The Freenet file sharing network is another application of the idea. It obfuscates data sources and flows in order to protect operators and users of the network by preventing them (and, by extension, observers such as censors) from knowing where data comes from and where it is stored.

Plausible deniability - Popular Culture

The term was used in the 1996 movie Independence Day when the President asks the Secretary of Defense why he had not been told about the existence of Area 51. Events in the films Chocolat (wherein the town mayor declares "something has to be done," yielding disastrous results) and Clear and Present Danger (the main plotline) also include elements of plausible deniability.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Other examples of plausible denial", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki