Judge rules FBI can continue to gag recipient of National Security Letter

[kpete]

Source: Raw Story


Judge rules FBI can continue to gag recipient of National Security Letter

By Raw Story
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 -- 7:01 pm


Judge rules FBI can continue to gag recipient of National Security LetterA federal judge ruled late Tuesday that the government can continue to gag an internet servicer provider who received a National Security Letter from the FBI -- five years ago.

Under the Patriot Act, the FBI can use such letters to demand personal records about customers from internet providers, financial institutions and credit card companies without a warrant, and then keep the companies from disclosing even that they'd received such a letter.

The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the ISP. The government maintains that revealing information about the letter could compromise ongoing investigations, even though the letter itself was sent five years ago and has been the subject of press accounts.

"We're deeply disappointed that the court ruled that the FBI can continue to gag our John Doe client, who has been silenced for more than five years," Melissa Goodman, staff attorney with the ACLU National Security Project, said in a release. "This gag – which we continue to believe is unnecessary and unconstitutional – has prohibited Doe from participating in the public debate about the Patriot Act and has been used to suppress key information about the FBI's misuse of NSLs. The FBI's overuse of the NSL gag power has allowed the FBI to manipulate the surveillance debate and to deprive Congress and the public of crucial information that would inform the ongoing congressional debate about this intrusive surveillance power."

Read more: http://rawstory.com/2009/10/judge-rules-fbi-continue-gag-recipient-national-security-letter/