[liberationtech] Google defies FBI, asks federal judge to challenge National Security Letter

[Nicholas Merrill]

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