I am very happy to report to the list that apparently, Google is now challenging a National Security Letter issued by the FBI
According to what I have read, "Google filed a petition to “set aside the legal process,” citing a provision that enables judges to modify or deny NSLs that are “unreasonable, oppressive, or otherwise unlawful.” That is a bit short of what I did ( with ACLU's and EFF's help ) in Doe v. Ashcroft ( 334 F. Supp. 2d 471 (S.D.N.Y. 2004) ) which was to challenge the constitutionality of the statute itself. However it's still something and it keeps the issue in the forefront of the news and helps to keep it a current issue. I have always hoped that more companies would challenge warrantless seizure of telecommunications records which has repeatedly been ruled to be unconstitutional and in violation of the 4th amendment, and I hope that more of these types of challenges are to come in the near future. More coverage: 1. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-04/google-fights-u-s-national-security-probe-data-demand.html 2. http://venturebeat.com/2013/04/04/google-defies-fbi-asks-federal-judge-to-challenge-national-security-letters/ 3. http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/291871-google-fights-secret-fbi-subpoena 4. http://rt.com/usa/google-letters-national-unconstitutional-365/ 5. http://mashable.com/2013/04/04/google-challenge-national-security-letter/ 6. http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/04/google-fights-nsl/ In my humble opinion, Google deserves to be commended for taking this action which it did not have to take ! -Nick -- Nicholas Merrill Executive Director The Calyx Institute 287 Spring Street New York, NY 10013 https://www.calyxinstitute.org -- Too many emails? Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password by emailing moderator at [email protected] or changing your settings at https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech
