A nonprofit digital library has successfully fought an FBI attempt to seize information about one of its users, and is calling on other groups to challenge government agencies attempting to obtain online customer information without a judge’s order.
The FBI presented the San Francisco-based Internet Archive with a national security letter in November asking for a library patron’s records. The group sued the agency a month later, alleging the letter violated free speech rights because they prohibit recipients from talking to anyone else about them.
The Internet Archive said Wednesday the FBI agreed to withdraw the letter last week and make the case, which had been filed under seal, public. Sections of the lawsuit and supporting documents detailing what and who investigators were looking into have been blacked out.
National security letters are used to compel businesses to turn over customer information without a judge’s order or grand jury subpoena. They are most typically served on Internet service providers and telephone companies demanding billing records, subscriber information and other electronic communication transactional records.
The companies receiving the letters are barred from telling customers who are the targets of the FBI demands.
I wonder who the FBI recruits nowadays? Has their HR dept. worked up a profile for candidates who want to help build America’s Secret Police?
What’s next?
FBI subpoenaing Google’s cached pages?
Am I gonna get sued because I clicked Refresh in Internet Explorer?
What if the company is in India and Habib can’t tell what the FBI guy is saying and transfers you to the manager?
There is no free speach!
“I wonder who the FBI recruits nowadays? Has their HR dept. worked up a profile for candidates who want to help build America’s Secret Police?”
Oh yes, long ago, though I wonder whether the profile used to be more of a hindrance to being accepted into the FBI than a help. (And whether it still is.)
I think the FBI are a wonderful and hardworking organization and all its agents are wonderful.
-Ben (who doesn’t fancy getting dragged off to Gitmo in the middle of night)
I’ve started rewatching my X Files DVDs lately. Some of the government conspiracy / shady figures / power plays withing the FBI plots were fairly tinfoil hat back in the day. Plausible, but not seen as likely.
I’m sad to say its very much believable now.
Arlo Guthrie had it right. It takes a natural bastardness to be a ‘G’man.
I for one, welcome our new FBI overlords.
Hi,
THey are going after secrely them fighting back against such.
Secret wiretap traps are nothing compared to following current crimes of U.S. Governments :
1. Current Satellite Mind Control Weapon Attack Activities Worldwide includes inside U.S. land.
2. Victimized many peoples, and daily more victims adding to the list. They remotely and secretly inject conspiracies into target ones’life, then use such as threats to attempt avoid victims from expose the attackers (U.S. Government’s top dark secret mission projects). They torture and rape victims’ mind round-the-clock freely.
3. Secret invasions to other countries raises national security invasion concerns. In fact, they already invaded and are invading secretly worldwide countries territories using satellite weapons.
…
Sincerely.
https://wwww.petitionOnline.com/SMCW3048/
http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?SMCW3048&1
it’s good to see that patriot act horse-sh*t doesn’t hold up to the most basic tests.
I’ve downloaded stuff from Archive. It’s all commercials and public domain stuff. Harmless. Why would the FBI care?
Personally I think the terrorists aren’t as scary as what’s going on with ‘national security’. With a terrorist it’s a one in a million thing. I feel for those affected, but now, the chances of being investigated without probable cause or recourse or ever knowing about it are about a million times more likely. Sheeit! I’d rather take my chances with the terrorists.
If I was a webmaster, I’d put an explicit denial of access to any and all law enforcement in the TOS agreement.
Then I’d haul their arses into court if they looked at my web site without a warrant.
In my observation, not enough people realize how cool Internet Archive is. The Wayback Machine is pretty darn cool but the live music archive is absolutely fantastic.
Did you have a cheesy web page ten years ago that is now long-gone? You might be able to recover it on the Wayback machine.
And the music archive — oh my word. You can find such cool music there.