Justice Department Sues Telecom for Challenging National Security Letter
Source: Wired
Justice Department Sues Telecom for Challenging National Security Letter
Last year, when a telecommunications company received an ultra-secret demand letter from the FBI seeking information about a customer or customers, the telecom took an extraordinary step it challenged the underlying authority of the FBIs National Security Letter, as well as the legitimacy of the gag order that came with it.
Both challenges are allowed under a federal law that governs NSLs, a power greatly expanded under the Patriot Act that allows the government to get detailed information on Americans finances and communications without oversight from a judge. The FBI has issued hundreds of thousands of NSLs and been reprimanded for abusing them though almost none of the requests have been challenged by the recipients.
After the telecom challenged its NSL last year, the Justice Department took its own extraordinary measure: It sued the company, arguing in court documents that the company was violating the law by challenging its authority....
...The governments Jabberwocky argument accusing the company of violating the law when it was actually complying with the law appears in redacted court documents that were released on Wednesday by EFF with the governments approval. Prior to their release, the organization provided them to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported on the case Tuesday night. The case is a significant challenge to the government and its efforts to obtain documents in a manner that the EFF says violates the First Amendment rights of free speech and association.
Read more: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/07/doj-sues-telecom-over-nsl/?utm_source=Contextly&utm_medium=RelatedLinks&utm_campaign=Interesting
The relevant page at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, where you can d/l the documents mentioned above:
https://www.eff.org/cases/re-matter-2011-national-security-letter
Jack Rabbit
(45,984 posts)I haven't heard such bureaucratic doublespeak since the Frat Boy and the Big Dick left office. I was hoping that kind of nonsense would have gone away with them.
Mr. Holder, please do something productive, like putting a few banksters behind bars.
gtar100
(4,192 posts)He prefers the easy scores, rather than actually doing his fucking job.
jimmil
(629 posts)I worked for a company that screwed up telephone traffic across the US. The hearings we had to go to in front of the Senate and the FCC as a result of the outages were mainly dog and pony shows. For a week we were grilled about nothing relevant but there were a lot of really big three syllable words tossed about. Bureaucratic doublespeak is an artform in Washington.
grahamhgreen
(15,741 posts)Solly Mack
(90,785 posts)"...was violating the law by challenging its authority"
Wow.
Wilms
(26,795 posts)William Seger
(10,779 posts)Festivito
(13,452 posts)We live in an age of stupid blood-sucking pimps who at least get their daily dose of irony.
ck4829
(35,091 posts)KakistocracyHater
(1,843 posts).