|
In a case reminiscent of last year’s challenge by a Connecticut library consortium, the FBI in San Francisco has withdrawn an unconstitutional national security letter (NSL) issued to the Internet Archive, after a legal challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). As the result of a settlement agreement, the FBI withdrew the NSL and agreed to the unsealing of the case, finally allowing the Archive's founder to speak out for the first time about his battle against the record demand. “The free flow of information is at the heart of every library's work. That's why Congress passed a law limiting the FBI's power to issue NSLs to America's libraries,” said Brewster Kahle, founder and digital librarian of the Internet Archive. “While it's never easy standing up to the government - particularly when I was barred from discussing it with anyone - I knew I had to challenge something that was clearly wrong. I'm grateful that I am able now to talk about what happened to me, so that other libraries can learn how they can fight back from these overreaching demands.” Since the Patriot Act was passed in 2001, relaxing restrictions on the FBI's use of the power, the number of NSLs issued has seen an astronomical increase, to nearly 200,000 between 2003 and 2006. EFF's investigations have uncovered multiple NSL misuses, including an improper NSL issued to North Carolina State University. More details from the ACLU. Support our work: Click on DONATE in the upper right-hand corner. We need and appreciate your help!
|
