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.

Comments

I've said it before, but...

[DoofusOfDeath]

we don't arrest, try, and if convicted, punish nearly enough FBI, NSA, and CIA agents.

Freedom?

[Moof123]

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.

Judicial Activism

[Grishnakh]

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!

Great American Hero

[PopeRatzo]

Sometimes, the really great men go unsung:

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.

Judge Marrero, we salute you.

Re:Every single gag order needs to have an expirat

[cbhacking]

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".