FBI Can’t Demand Customer Records From Telcos, Judge Says

[Purveyor]

Source: Bloomberg

FBI demands for confidential customer records from telecommunication companies were barred by a federal judge, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

A copy of the order signed today by U.S. District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco was provided by lawyers with EFF, a cyber-rights group based in San Francisco that represents plaintiffs in the case. The case itself is sealed from public view. Illston said in her order that her ruling “shall be publicly available.”

The lawsuit brought by an unidentified phone-service provider challenges the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s use of “national security letters” in terrorism and national security probes. The letters require companies to turn over customers’ personal information and bar recipients from disclosing that they received the inquiries.

EFF said in a statement that today’s ruling will be stayed for 90 days to give the government a chance to respond.

Civil-rights groups say NSLs, as they are known, give federal agents unchecked powers to spy on people, while the government says NSLs are a crucial tool in fighting terrorism. The ruling is at least the second from a federal judge over the legality of NSLs. In 2007, a judge in Manhattan struck down aspects of the letters as amended by the U.S. Patriot Act.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-15/fbi-can-t-demand-customer-records-from-telcos-judge-says-1-.html

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. 3 cheers for EFF!!!!

[JimDandy]

2. Good for the EFF!

The ACLU and the EFF are great protectors of our constitutional rights.

[jsr]

3. Great decision

[quakerboy]

4. Neat

It would be nice to think that the FBI would abide by such a ruling.

It might not be realistic, but it would be nice.

It would also be nice to think that telco's would hold that information unless legally required to share it.

That also, based on prior reading, seems less than realistic.

But we gotta take it where we can get it. If they are legally barred from doing it, then when they do it, now they are at least legitimately breaking the law, rather than just maybe breaking the law.

[mallard]

12. Re: it would also be nice

... if the courts took equally strong positions regarding rights of citizens, not just the corporations et al.

[Orrex]

5. And fast-track legislation to enable such demands will pass in three... two...

[PerceptionManagement]

13. They will just skip the banks and phone companies and go to the NSA

[woo me with science]

6. K&R

[struggle4progress]

7. Federal judge says FBI secret national security letters seeking records are unconstitutional

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge has ruled that secretive FBI demands for customer data from banks, phone companies and others are unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston ruled Friday that so-called national security letters are unconstitutional because the FBI bars recipients from disclosing to anyone, including their customers, that they received the demands.

Illston says this gag order violates freedom of speech rights.

The San Francisco-based judge put her order on hold for 90 days so the U.S. Department of Justice can appeal ...

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/federal-judge-says-fbi-secret-national-security-letters-seeking-records-are-unconstitutional/2013/03/15/18c242f0-8dd0-11e2-adca-74ab31da3399_story.html

[In_The_Wind]

8. Hurray for U.S. District Judge Susan Illston!

[Tx4obama]

9. Kick n/t

[woo me with science]

10. kick

[Tx4obama]

11. Kick n/t

[sir pball]

14. Oh come on, this is pure theater

I suspect the good judge had some, suggestion shall we say, on how to rule - as has been pointed out already, there's other three-letter agencies that get the information firsthand. Room 641A, anybody?

The black room infrastructure is now complete. They don't need NSLs anymore, so they'll make a big show of how all this record-grabbing is Unconstitutional And Must Stop. And it will mostly all be stopped...through visible channels.