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ISP Owner Who Fought FBI Spying Freed From Gag Order
Tootech writes "So you wonder what happens when an ISP recieves a a so-called 'national security letter' from the FBI? Well, read this about an ISP owner's fight to not have to turn over everything and the sink to the FBI: 'The owner of an internet service provider who mounted a high-profile court challenge to a secret FBI records demand has finally been partially released from a 6-year-old gag order that forced him to keep his role in the case a secret from even his closest friends and family. He can now identify himself and discuss the case, although he still can't reveal what information the FBI sought. Nicholas Merrill, 37, was president of New York-based Calyx Internet Access when he received a so-called "national security letter" from the FBI in February 2004 demanding records of one of his customers and filed a lawsuit to challenge it.'"
So much for the first amendment. I'd have posted it all to slashdot, written letters to editors, harrassed my congresscritters, and gone to jail.
Free country, my ass. You no longer have freedom of speech.
Free Martian Whores!
An old buddy of mine works at the FBI. He says that these demanding letters come in all shapes and forms, are frequently quite illegitimate, and are becoming more and more widely spread.
Basically, the FBI is doing what the MAFIAA do--they know that they're the big boys with power and money and will go against you whether you're right or wrong because nearly no one will fight.
IOW, they wanted everything.
RIP America
July 4, 1776 - September 11, 2001
For every ISP like this who stood up to the feds, I wonder how many just caved and put their own business interests ahead of the civil rights of their clients?
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
I agree 100%, but what this really is is yet another reminder that political power cannot be fought. Political power is the special right to employ physical force as a means to an end. Nobody holds that special right except for government. That one special right is, in fact, what defines government and seperates government from everybody else.
Why am I going on about this? Because that one special right is the most dangerous thing in the world, and for this reason it MUST be strictly limited. Think twice about cheering for more and more government along with the masses. Remember that we are already living under the most expensive, most powerful government this world has ever seen. If you advocate more government on certain matters, AT LEAST consider that the power you advocate should be re-allocated from other parts of government which are over-powered (and there are many), rather than created out of thin air. All too often I see people on slashdot cheering for yet even more government, without even giving consideration to the fact that they are already subject (if they live in the US) to the most powerful empire in history, with military bases in over 150 countries around the world.
They already have enough power. They already have enough revenue. In fact, they have way too much of both, and that is why the level of injustice is increasing, not decreasing, over time.
Nicholas Merrill for President... of Comcast, AT&T, Verizon, etc!!!!
Who's with me?
"This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
I wonder why I root for Al Capone in all those gangster movies.....
RIP America
July 4, 1776 - September 11, 2001
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/03/10/LIBRARIES.TMP
"In Santa Cruz, where library officials are trying to stir up patrons about the Patriot Act, chief librarian Anne Turner has found a more subtle way to sidestep the gag order, if she ever faces one.
"At each board meeting I tell them we have not been served by any (search warrants)," she said. "In any months that I don't tell them that, they'll know."
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
It's for our own protection, comrade! If you disagree with this, that means you're with the capitalists and against Mother Russia! We know how to deal with uppity citizens who refuse to cooperate with the KGB!
No offense, but our government has such a track record of claiming "national security" when it is anything but that I am inclined to not believe them when I hear those words. Half the time, it turns out to be our freedoms being curtailed for purely political reasons (either to cover someone's @ss or to harass an enemy). And you know what? Every totalitarian government uses that claim (or something similar) when they run roughshod over the rights of their constituents.
The Soviets were protecting their people from capitalist spies, capitalist saboteurs, and other unsavory "anti-revolutionary" types. The Nazis were protecting their people from Jews, gypsies, communists, homosexuals, union members, etc., etc. For our government, the boogeyman changes from time to time (drug dealers, terrorists, immigrants, etc.), but the purpose is the same. Your problem is that you've obviously fallen from the boogeyman scare tactics and failed to see it for what it is, and your reaction is exactly what those peddling fear could have hoped for.
Anyone who is trying to sell you something using fear is up to no good, or they would not have to resort to such tactics. We have a certain tradition in this country, and letting the government do whatever the hell they want as long as they use the magic words "national security" or "for your own protection" is not part of that tradition.
Here's what you do when you get one of these letters:
1) Deny that you have any of the records they are looking for.
2) Make sure that data (which you do have) is seriously protected.
3) They have no way to get the data from you now without either:
a. arresting you for not complying - in which case their secrecy is blown, so they won't do that
b. getting a court ordered warrant - in which case their secrecy is blown, so they won't do that
c. Getting all sneaky and stealing the data - see #2
d. Totally screwing you over and destroying your life - in which case their secrecy is blown because once your life is destroyed, you have nothing to lose by revealing the letter, so they won't do that
4) Dance
you CANNOT undo that. sorry. no letter can undo that.
this quote was GOLD!
"My gut feeling is I'm an American," Merrill said, in an interview with Threat Level on Tuesday. "I always have a right to an attorney. There's no such thing as you can't talk to your attorney."
if there's a fund for this guy, I'd be happy to donate some cash to him. he seems like a GOOD GUY!
I honestly don't know what I'd do if I got one of these illegal letters (yes, I consider this illegal to DENY me my right to an attorney. YOU, mr. government, have all you want; I deserve at least ONE.
this is HUGE. people have created revolutions on less than this!
"sorry, but we have the right to lock you up and fuck you over and you can't even defend yourself".
BULLSHIT!
just push enough people and eventually one will 'flip out' and make the news. maybe then it will get some deserved attention.
this 'law' is SO WRONG on so many levels.
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
"At each board meeting I tell them we have not been served by any (search warrants)," she said. "In any months that I don't tell them that, they'll know."
I wonder if this technique could be used in other ways.
An ISP could use automation to send its customers some sort of message once a day as long as the the customer is not under investigation in a message queue the customer doesn't need to check. If an NSL comes for a customer, the "not under investigation" flag could be disabled for that customer. The ISP could then set up an email alert / automated phone message if the message is not sent one day to make it very obvious to the customer that some unidentified investigation is going on.
Title 18, U.S.C. Section 2709(c) seems to only specifically prohibit disclosure "that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has sought or obtained access to information or records". Stopping sending notifications that there is no investigation doesn't necessarily seem to violate that prohibition.
Here's a reminder for all the Obama fanatics:
"the fight over NSLs is not over. The Obama administration has been seeking to expand the FBI’s power to demand internet activity records of customers without court approval or suspicion of wrongdoing. If granted, the data sought without a court order could expand to include web browser and search history, and Facebook friend requests."
It puts many of the anti-Bush wiretapping arguments in perspective. I was certainly not a supporter of George W. Bush, but my support of Ron Paul is looking more sparkling by the month.
If not, I have to question your willingness to incur incarceration for your principles. Not that I think it would be wrong -- I'd applaud you. But, I'm not convinced you know what you'd be in for.
If you are incarcerated for more than a few days, you will probably lose your job, which will make mounting a legal defense more difficult unless you have plenty of cash (and it hasn't been seized or your assets otherwise frozen). I presume you will not accept a plea bargain, because it appears you would rather fight. Expect that to be expensive, and drawn out. Also expect bail to be set so high that you can't effectively participate with your legal team in your defense, particularly if you're a thorn in the government's side.
In Liberty, Rene
SIX YEARS just to release his name, it shouldn't have taken SIX MONTHS to get that far for such obviously unconstitutional actions. Most of the courts decisions were correct, if mildly worded (these courts should be shouting "holy s*** this is unconstitutional, what were you people thinking?" not "..may likely be unconstitutional"), but sheesh. If I broke into a government office and was caught stealing documents I highly doubt I could expect to be free on bond for SIX YEARS just to get to the point were I was convicted of pocketing one of their ball point pens (sorry the closest citizen analogy I could think of).
you mean a show trial? How about "Special Administrative Measures" where you just disappear, never to be heard from again (except for some faint screaming from a Pakistani prison!
I killed da wabbit -Elmer Fudd
A lot of reporters have stood their ground on sources. An even larger number have sold out to the authorities and worked sub rosa for them, spreading disinfo or gathering intel, etc. It's a well mixed bag. http://whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/ARCHIVE/ciamedia.html
e. hit you a lot and charge you with the lazy cop trifecta of resisting arrest, attempted assault on an officer and obscene language. It's their word against yours.
Once law enforcement starts going down the "might is right" route you have to be careful which fights you choose because the wonders of medicine can not fix all damage or remove all pain. Unless you are somebody that a lot of people care about or somebody sets you up as a "symbol" your hardship just becomes another statistic for a later historian.
Remember the good cops that play everything by the book are not likely to put you in this sort of situation anyway. It's the minority that are on their way somewhere at all costs and you don't really want to get in the way of their ambition. Unjust laws like this give them free reign without the usual time consuming details of due process.
RSync.net, the online backup company, has been using a "warrant canary" for many years now:
Every week they update a special page with a PGP-signed dated article stating something like this:
http://www.rsync.net/resources/notices/canary.txt
The current message is here:
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
2010-08-09
No warrants have ever been served to rsync.net, or rsync.net principals or employees.
No searches or seizures of any kind have ever been performed on rsync.net assets,
including:
ALL San Diego locations
ALL Denver locations
ALL Zurich locations
ALL Hong Kong locations
(from www.NewYorkTimes.com)
In Crackdown on Energy Use, China to Shut 2,000 Factories
By closing some steel mills, cement works and other energy-intensive factories, the government said it hoped to improve energy efficiency.
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ltsbJAqoiTwyWbKFuP+UOt8=
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Terje
"almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching"