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FBI ISP Letters May Have Violated Free Speech

Posted by kdawson on from the tell-me-and-zip-it dept.

Anti-Globalism sends in a Reuters account of an appeals court hearing in which an unnamed ISP is challenging the Patriot Act "National Security Letter" provision that allows the FBI to issue secret letters to ISPs and telecoms, demanding customer records. "A panel of federal appeals court judges pushed a US government lawyer on Wednesday to answer why FBI letters sent out to Internet service providers seeking information should remain secret. ... Between 2003 and 2006 nearly 200,000 national security letters were sent out. Of those about 97 percent received gag orders."

1 of 117 comments (clear)

  1. Domestic Terrorism and Organized Crime. by cryptodan · · Score: -1, Flamebait
    Are you all forgetting that there is 2 forms of terrorism? Domestic and Foreign? Domestic means within our borders, and the FBI deals with Domestic Terrorism only along with the Department of Homeland Security. The CIA and others deal with Foreign Terrorism like the attacks on 9/11/2001 and the USS Cole bombing.

    So that 200K number you are all throwing around could include Eco terrorists, White Supremacist, Black Power Extremists, Members of PETA, and others. There are many groups that could draw attention to themselves from the FBI and warrants the National Security Letters.