FBI Files a "Secret Justification" For Gag Order

An anonymous reader notes a story up at Ars on the FBI's continuing penchant for secrecy. "Clearly, the FBI isn't ready to give up its Bush-era secrecy addition just yet. ...in the case of Doe v. Holder, the FBI is carrying out a secret investigation using secret guidelines on what is and is not constitutional, and as part of that investigation they've compelled the secrecy of a service provider and are using a secret justification to argue that nobody's First Amendment rights are being violated."

Comments

Re:Bush-era?

[Sponge Bath]

The NSL at the heart of this case was issued while Bush was in office. The Patriot Act (with the NSL provisions) was signed into law by Bush. I don't think it is unfair to mention Bush in this context.

Re:What's with

[The Moof]

we expect that to be changing under the new administration,

Based on what? Obama's policies on on domestic security and spying fall somewhat in line with Bush's, and he made no attempt to hide it during his campaign. There's even evidence with Gitmo shutting down. Some of the detainees will still be held indefinitely without trial in the interest of national security that the administration can't elaborate on.

Re:Existential rights

[Cross-Threaded]

The US is a Constitutional Republic.

Constitutional Republic