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thewayneA National Security Letter (NSL) is a tool that the FBI can use to compel information from a company or organization without getting an actual court order for the information. Since 2000, they've issued over 275,000 of them, information for two years has not been released and 2011 has not been compiled yet. One part of the NSL is that it contains a gag order: the outfit served by one cannot talk about it or tell the people whom the NSL targets that they are being targeted.
If you are such a served organization, it used to be that to challenge an NSL you had to go to court, now you can file by fax and just say that you're objecting. You're still going to end up in court, but at least the first step is easier. In this case, the company served wanted to notify the target so that the target could mount a legal defense.
Thus the kerfuffle.
NSLs have been challenged in court many times, the challengers frequently accompanied by the likes of the ACLU or EFF, and elements have been decided to be unconstitutional. The problem is that all an FBI agent needs to do to get the NSL is go to the agent in charge of his office and get him to sign off on it. The letter simply states that this information is needed for an on-going investigation. At least with a wire tap order, you have to specify what information that you're looking for and why you have reasonable suspicion that nefarious activity is going on, with NSLs it's just a signature and you're off and running. And the GAO has found massive abuse in the issuing of NSLs, so there are definite problems.
It's definitely a thorny issue.
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/03/mystery-nsl/
If you are such a served organization, it used to be that to challenge an NSL you had to go to court, now you can file by fax and just say that you're objecting. You're still going to end up in court, but at least the first step is easier. In this case, the company served wanted to notify the target so that the target could mount a legal defense.
Thus the kerfuffle.
NSLs have been challenged in court many times, the challengers frequently accompanied by the likes of the ACLU or EFF, and elements have been decided to be unconstitutional. The problem is that all an FBI agent needs to do to get the NSL is go to the agent in charge of his office and get him to sign off on it. The letter simply states that this information is needed for an on-going investigation. At least with a wire tap order, you have to specify what information that you're looking for and why you have reasonable suspicion that nefarious activity is going on, with NSLs it's just a signature and you're off and running. And the GAO has found massive abuse in the issuing of NSLs, so there are definite problems.
It's definitely a thorny issue.
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/03/mystery-nsl/
