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Federal Court Invalidates 11-Year-old FBI Gag Order On NSL Recipient
vivaoporto writes: The Calyx Institute reports that an 11-year-old gag order has been lifted from the recipient of a National Security Letter served by the FBI in 2004. A federal court found there wasn't a "good reason" to keep the man, Nicholas Merrill, from talking about it, "nor has the Government provided the Court with some basis to assure itself that the link between disclosure and risk of harm is substantial." The judge who invalidated the gag order, Victor Marrero, is the same judge that struck down a portion of the revised USA PATRIOT Act in 2007, forcing investigators to go through the courts to obtain approval before ordering ISPs to give up information on customers, instead of just sending them a National Security Letter. After a 90-day waiting period (for the government to mull an appeal), Merrill will be able to say whatever he wants about the case, finally completing the partial victory he managed back in 2010.
To allow for appeals. A great step forward, but not yet a victory.
has a probation period of 90 days
Let's all wish Nicholas Merrill good luck. Hopefully what he has to say is not particularly embarrassing to anyone that could make it look like an accident.
>> A federal court found there wasn't a "good reason" to keep the man from talking about it ...because 11 years ago there was still a debate raging about "whether" we should be under surveillance at all times, whereas the debate has now shifted to "how" we are under surveillance at all times.
we don't arrest, try, and if convicted, punish nearly enough FBI, NSA, and CIA agents.
11 years to get justice is not something we should be proud of. How we can argue our system of laws and democracy is any sort of role model is completely lost on me.
In addition, any and all "statue of limitations" should res-start for any information that that was gagged.
Same thing for non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements - not to exceed 10 years.
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
Many Americans have a very wide concept of freedom, almost to make it meaningless.
Mexico: 100% conservative's America now!
If not, then they have no say over your non-harming actions -- just as Walmart cannot fine me for violating their internal policies, but they can fine their workers. If you harm someone, then you're going to face consequences, whether through Common Law, or through vigilantism.
But, they don't want anybody to understand that their rules only apply to their employees. Which is why they crack down on people distributing FIJA fliers (from http://fija.org/ -- note that they take Bitcoin donations now!) outside of courthouses.
The Constitution guarantees a freedom of expression in the first amendment. It does not say, "This amendment is inferior to NSA letters"; it says, and I quote, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
The existence of "government classified information" precisely indicates the existence of "government conspiracies." A conspiracy is when two or more people work together, when one or more other people don't know about it. A surprise party is a benign form of conspiracy. Malicious forms include the mafia, the Patriot Act, etc.
Now, were I in his position, would I speak freely? That's a difficult one; I like my freedom, but then again I'm a shard of light and I'll return to the Creator so it doesn't really matter what happens to this corpse. Still, I avoid pain.
I feel fantastic, and I'm still alive.
The judge who invalidated the gag order, Victor Marrero, is the same judge that struck down a portion of the revised USA PATRIOT Act in 2007, forcing investigators to go through the courts to obtain approval before ordering ISPs to give up information on customers, instead of just sending them a National Security Letter.
Uh-oh, it's one of those activist judges again!! How dare a judge stand up for our rights!
What happens if you leak the letter? Jail time? What if a copy shows up on Wikileaks? They can't prove 100% you leaked it.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
Sometimes, the really great men go unsung:
Judge Marrero, we salute you.
You are welcome on my lawn.
No, you are being too easy on them. 80% of such can have 5 years, 15% can have 10 years, and 5% can have 15 years. They can extend all they want, but can only extend 20% of outstanding orders. That way the supposed "open" government only operates 20% in the shadows. They have full freedom to choose which 20%. Our nation isn't so fragile that we need this many protections on national security. And if it was, for God's sake, let the darn thing die and be reborn stronger.
For non-disclosure & confidentiality agreements. 5 for those involving people, and 10 for those involving corporations. Extensions must be agreed by all parties.
Nice concept, but you realize the 20% limit just means that, if they're at their limit and want to extend another one, the "solution" (from their perspective) is to just issue another four gag orders to whoever they can possibly get one on, right? That's the problem with systems like this; when the system is already being abused (and if it can be abused, it will be) then the easiest solution any time they run into a soft limit like you describe is "more abuse".
There's no place I could be, since I've found Serenity...
Now can we have the guy who wrote it punished?
Seriously. It's been 11 years. The guy's a lobbyist now. And how many invalid letters did he write? And what consequence was there to them for so doing?
Thought so.
AC
Of course they'll appeal: Because look, terrorist and we can't let the terrorists win.
So that everyone could simply have a web page stating "As of today's date, your name has not received a National Security Letter".
It's not against the law to remove a web page (yet).
Mission: To provide products that consume time and energy as entertainingly as permitted by the laws of thermodynamics.
You've hit upon something important. Most Slashdot readers haven't been served any kind of gag order, but I'll bet quite a few of us are under NDAs and confidentiality agreements. In a nutshell, the situation is that, if you have signed this sort of agreement, it can be used as leverage against you, even if you aren't breaching it in any way. Just the threat of legal action can be used to push you around. You could be forced into a court room to argue against an organization's claims. Even if squeaky clean, an organization can usually bankrupt an individual long before hitting the court room. If an individual were to successfully defend against claims in court, they would still likely end up losing several hundred thousand dollars. It turns out these sort of SLAPP suits are common. So lets say you realize that your employer is breaking a law in a way that you can't stomach. If you've signed any kind of confidentiality agreement, unless you aren't very sure that you can report the problem to the authorities (don't even think of going to the media) anonymously, or that legislation that protects your disclosure is in place (talk to a good lawyer to be sure), you are in a bad place. A person in this situation should probably just quit and stay quiet.