EFF Sues DOJ For Access To Secret Court Orders On Decryption (techcrunch.com)

An anonymous reader writes: TechCrunch reports the Electronic Frontier Foundation has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Justice to reveal documents that "show whether DOJ has ever forced a company like Google or Apple to provide technical surveillance assistance in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, a federal court that issues secret surveillance warrants in national security cases and has been criticized for rubber-stamping NSA overreach." The EFF has been rejected in its attempt to gain access to the documents under the Freedom of Information Act. "Even setting aside the existence of technical assistance orders, there's no question that other, significant FISC opinions remain hidden from the public," EFF senior staff attorney Mark Rumold said in a statement regarding the lawsuit. "The government's narrow interpretation of its transparency obligations under USA FREEDOM is inconsistent with the language of the statute and Congress' intent. Congress wanted to bring an end to secret surveillance law, so it required that all significant FISC opinions be declassified and released. Our lawsuit seeks to hold DOJ accountable to the law." The full lawsuit can be read here.

Comments

reminder to self

[Anonymous Coward]

donate some more dollars to EFF.

before you forget , here's the link

[raymorris]

https://supporters.eff.org/don...

I'd forget if I waited until later.

Sic semper tyrannis

[Gravis Zero]

I certainly hope things turn out for the best because a government unaccountable to the people ends poorly.

likely a futile effort

[Anonymous Coward]

For one thing the DOJ is claiming there weren't any FISC opinions or orders pertaining to EFF's rather broad FOIA request, and secondly they came across two items that potentially could fall under the EFF's scope of their request, but can't be released because there were classified by Executive Order which is exempt from the FOIA. So either the EFF secretly has a copy or copies some FISC documents that meet the criteria of their FOIA request and are trying to go through this route in order to release them publicly without getting into trouble, or they're just fishing. So far, the FBI has gone through federal courts to compel companies to technically assist them with decryption issues. I'm not sure how the EFF knows that the FISC has significantly constructed or made an interpretation of the law with regard to FBI technical assistance and tech companies unless they may already possess such a ruling from the FISC. Anyway, its unlikely they're to get any docs that were classified by Executive Order.

One question

[wbr1]

Standing? Can the EFF show harm caused to the it?

Re:One question

[Anonymous Coward]

They have standing because its their FOIA request that's been denied. The EFF is asserting that the DOJ didn't do a proper search and that they are withholding FISC documents. After exhausting the administrative appeals process, the law allows them to sue the DOJ to get the federal court to exam their request and determine if, indeed, there are FISC opinions or orders that should have been released publicly.

'Significant' Opinions

[mentil]

I imagine the DOJ will respond that the FISC opinions in question aren't significant enough for the USA FREEDOM act to apply, the obvious loophole I saw coming before it was passed. Luckily, the executive branch will certainly release those documents anyways because we're headed by the most transparent administration ever. Thanks, Obama!

Vietnam, Iraq, Korea. One stealth vs White House

[raymorris]

Assume for a moment that none of the citizens serving in our military would fight on the right side. I present to you the following examples of the US government using its "rocket launchers" vs a "clearly outmatched" population:
Vietnam
Iraq
Korea

It turns out that a determined population isn't readily defeated by even the strongest military in the world.

Consider further what happens when even a single B-2 pilot decides to put 80 JDAM-equipped guided bombs into the White House and whatever other government targets he chooses to eliminate. Any one of the 18 Ohio-class submarines could use its 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles to remove Washington.

Re:Do NOT donate to the EFF

[BlueStrat]

All donations are recorded and EFF donors are on a watchlist. You might find out to your -and your family's - chagrin just how difficult life can be for a "person of interest".

Pfft!

If you aren't already on several "government watchlists" you have no life, no friends or family, have never used electronic communications, never used any modern transportation or financial/banking/commerce systems, and hold/voice no opinions.

News flash, Bunky. *Everybody* is a "person of interest" these days. That's the whole point!

Strat

You want the truth?

[houghi]

You can't handle the truth.

Anyway, with a name like USA FREEDOM it is clear those words do not mean what they think it means.