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

[Shava Nerad]

On Fri, Apr 5, 2013 at 12:20 PM, Nicholas Merrill <lists at calyx.com> wrote:
>
> I am very happy to report to the list that apparently, Google is now
> challenging a National Security Letter issued by the FBI

This is stunning.  I did not expect "the identity network" to take a move
like this.  I don't expect Google to do anything on this scale for purely
altruistic reasons, although it's nice when they happen to serve those
ends.  (Just to prove I am not the anti-Evgeny...:)

I wonder what motivated them?  I am reluctant to look a gift horse in the
mouth ungraciously, and Google is not exactly monolithic, but this is
considerably larger than some Google lawyer's 20% project.

Let's follow the money.  Are they concerned with the level of government
inquiry into their records with this mechanism?  Is the government going
after a favored client?  (This is to say, they can't say who an NSL is
going after but they can resist when the government goes after a major
stream of revenue for them).

I'll note that the privacy czar at Google just turned over to US hands.  I
wonder if that had anything to do with this.  I should look more closely
perhaps at Mr. You.

Of course, to be really cynical, NSLs allow the government to arbitrarily
shield inquiries that would later be revealed by FOIA requests to govt
embarassment, and Google can't even charge them for the inconvenience.  It
has to rankle them.  They should at least get paid and not just bullied for
being informants.  It's directly counter their business model.

Curiouser and curiouser.

yrs,

-- 

Shava Nerad
shava23 at gmail.com
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