The “national security letters” issued by the FBI seeking private information about individuals’ bank accounts, communications and other activities are unconstitutional because they ban recipients from even acknowledging they exist.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston of San Francisco ruled that the FBI must cease issuing the gag orders, but put the decision on hold in anticipation of a government appeal, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, which characterized the order as a “blow against government secrecy.”
The Electronic Privacy Information Center describes national security letters as “an extraordinary search procedure which gives the FBI the power to compel the disclosure of customer records held by banks, telephone companies, Internet Service Providers, and others. These entities are prohibited, or “gagged,” from telling anyone about their receipt of the NSL, which makes oversight difficult. The Number of NSLs issued has grown dramatically since the Patriot Act expanded the FBI’s authority to issue them.”
The ruling was important in that the law authorizing the national security letters could conceivably enable the FBI to find out the identity of a citizen who criticized the government in an anonymous online posting, writes Matt Zimmerman. (Electronic Freedom Foundation, March 18, 2013)