http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Watchdogs_prompt_FBI_to_withdraw_unconstitutional_0507.htmlNick Juliano
Published: Wednesday May 7, 2008
The FBI has withdrawn an illegal National Security Letter seeking information from an online library and has lifted a gag order that until Wednesday prevented any discussion of the information request.
Lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union and Electronic Frontier Foundation helped the Internet Archive push back against what they say was an overly broad and unlawful request for information on one of its users. The FBI issued its National Security Letter in November, but ACLU, EFF and Archive officials were precluded from discussing it with anyone because of a gag order they say was unconstitutional.
After nearly five months of haggling, the FBI eventually withdrew its NSL, which requested personal information about at least one user of the Internet Archive. Founded in 1996, the archive is recognized as a library by the state of California, and its collections include billions of Web records, documents, music and movies.
Because the FBI's NSL sought information about what the suspected users were accessing in the digital library, it violated a 2006 update to the NSL authority that prevented access of information about library patrons' activities such as what books they checked out, EFF and ACLU lawyers said. The ACLU is representing NSL recipients in two other cases, but lawyers noted that virtually none of the 200,000 letters issued by the FBI, CIA, Defense Department and other agencies between 2003 and 2006 ever were challenged in court.
The few cases that have gone before a judge all have prompted the FBI to back down, ACLU lawyer Melissa Goodman said.
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