March 24, 2007

FBI abuse of Patriot Act

Interesting. This is what we always feared about the Patriot Act. This anonymous person received an NSL letter, was barred from talking about it, even after the FBI decided it didn't need the information.
My National Security Letter Gag Order - washingtonpost.com: "Three years ago, I received a national security letter (NSL) in my capacity as the president of a small Internet access and consulting business. The letter ordered me to provide sensitive information about one of my clients. There was no indication that a judge had reviewed or approved the letter, and it turned out that none had. The letter came with a gag provision that prohibited me from telling anyone, including my client, that the FBI was seeking this information. Based on the context of the demand -- a context that the FBI still won't let me discuss publicly -- I suspected that the FBI was abusing its power and that the letter sought information to which the FBI was not entitled."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Defenders of the PA keep saying that you don't have anyting to fear, unless you are a terrorist or bad guy. I thought there was great potential for abuse, but figured it would be a few more years before we saw the gov't harassing non-criminals and generally ignoring the 4th amendment. I guess I was wrong. There have been a couple of judges that have stood up to the PA and I'd like to see more.