Secrecy is always an invitation to corrupt practices
"Sometime in 2012, I will begin the ninth year of my life under an FBI gag order, which began when I received what is known as a national security letter at the small Internet service provider I owned. On that day in 2004 (the exact date is redacted from court papers, so I can’t reveal it), an FBI agent came to my office and handed me a letter. It demanded that I turn over information about one of my clients and forbade me from telling “any person” that the government had approached me.
National security letters are issued by the FBI, not a judge, to obtain phone, computer, and banking information. Instead of complying, I spoke with a lawyer at the American Civil Liberties Union and filed a constitutional challenge against the NSL provision of the Patriot Act, which was signed into law 10 years ago Wednesday.
In 2004, it wasn’t at all clear whether the FBI would charge me with a crime for telling the ACLU about the letter, or for telling the court clerk about it when I filed my lawsuit as “John Doe.”
For years, the government implausibly claimed that if I were able to identify myself as the plaintiff in the case, irreparable damage to national security would result. But I did not believe then, nor do I believe now, that the FBI’s gag order was motivated by legitimate national security concerns. It was motivated by a desire to insulate the FBI from public criticism and oversight.
In August 2010, the government agreed to a settlement, and I was finally allowed to reveal my name to the public in connection with my case, but I am still prevented — under the threat of imprisonment — from discussing any fact that was redacted in the thousands of pages of court documents, including the target of the investigation or what information was sought.
I don’t believe that it’s right for Americans’ free speech rights to be bound by perpetual gag orders that can’t be meaningfully challenged in a court of law. The courts agreed, but the NSLs and the gag orders live on.
Source
7 comments:
Ah, the BUSH FBI. How I long for those days.
Calling it the PATRIOT ACT it should be called THE BIG BROTHER ACT instead
"Patriot Act" is indeed an Orwellian term.
You can only take freedom, liberty, and privacy away from a nation of sheep. Free people would burn DC to the ground.
@Kee- And thus you reveal you commitment to the GOVERNMENT, not the NATION. They are not interchangeable terms.
Jefferson for the win...
"What country before ever existed a century & half without a rebellion? & what country can preserve it's liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?"
Time for some spirited resistance.
KAfka lives!
"I did not believe then, nor do I believe now, that the FBI’s gag order was motivated by legitimate national security concerns.
Well there you go. With such overwhelming evidence of "your belief," how could it possibly be otherwise?
Or maybe, just maybe, the purpose of the order was to keep the suspect from becoming aware of the investigation.
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