Teleidoscope

Thu, Sep 06, 2007

ACLU

Posted at 4:30 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

In the Patriot Act Congress created National Security Letters, which the FBI could use to demand information from ISPs, financial organizations, librarians, and others. There was no court supervision, and it included an automatic gag order, so that people who received these letters could not mention that they had received them, or even discuss the program.

A report that came out in March from the Inspector General of the Justice department found serious abuses by the FBI and reported that more than 143,000 NSLs were issued between 2003 and 2005.

Today NSLs were declared un-Constitutional by a Federal District court in a case brought by the ACLU on behalf of an NSL recipient who was referred to as John Doe because of the gag order. More court cases and various levels of appeals are ongoing.

I joined the ACLU, today. I gave them about enough to pay for 1 hour of a decent lawyer. (Note to self: this is not a tax deductible donation.)

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