Internet Archive defeats ‘National Security Letter,’ Makes it public
by T. Colin Dodd
The Internet Archive, a project to create a digital library of the web for posterity, successfully fought a secret government Patriot Act order for records about one of its patrons and won the right to make the order public, civil liberties groups announced Wednesday morning.
On November 26, 2007, the FBI served a controversial National Security Letter .pdf on the Internet Archive’s founder Brewster Kahle, asking for records about one of the library’s registered users, asking for the user’s name, address and activity on the site.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Internet Archive’s lawyers, fought the NSL, challenging its constitutionality in a December 14 complaint .pdf to a federal court in San Francisco. The FBI agreed on April 21 to withdraw the letter and unseal the court case, making some of the documents available to the public.
June 2nd, 2008 at 6:25 pm
If you don’t want to work with the government of your own country why would you keep your citizenship?
June 3rd, 2008 at 4:22 am
It is unfortunate that web activity has to be monitored in the present climate as is the case in counter-terrorism, civil liberties are breached in the process and there is always a risk that the information gleaned could be misused at government level as has been the case in the past with the crime of ’spoogery’.
June 4th, 2008 at 10:56 am
@Rusty, the basis for our country (I assume you’re from the U.S.) is that the government *is* the people. That entails oversight, of which the NSL process has little to none.
Since you question why someone would want to retain their citizenship, here’s an apropos quote:
“Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
- Ben Franklin
June 4th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
The American government was set up by people who feared an out of control government that oppresses its people. Doing away with citizen’s privacy while making the government less transparent are essetial steps towards building a totlitarian government. Read 1984 by Orwell. Ameriicans have not just the right, but the responsibility to push back against reductions of our rights; especially privacy.
June 10th, 2008 at 11:21 am
@ rusty-
If you’re so willing to be transparent, why hide behind the name “Rusty Shackleford”.
@ Dave C. & Ken - What you guys said!
June 17th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
Right on Rusty…
Dave, we are a republic - look it up and yes I’m veteran and patriot are you? Congress passed the patriot act.
Ken, nice to frame the founding fathers as people who feared anything.