Date: Wed, 7 May 2008 19:07:25 -0700 (PDT)
From: Sue Fraser <xcschild@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: Net-Gold@yahoogroups.com
To: Net-Gold <Net-Gold@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [Net-Gold] Online librarian from San Francisco Wins His Fight
with the FBI
Online librarian from San Francisco Wins His Fight with the FBI
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer, Wednesday, May 7, 2008
(05-07) 18:03 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Brewster Kahle, who runs an online
library in San Francisco, was appalled when his volunteer lawyers told him
in November that the FBI was demanding records of all communications with
one of his patrons as part of an investigation of "international terrorism
or clandestine intelligence activities."
The FBI document, called a national security letter, told Kahle he could
be prosecuted if he discussed the subject with anyone but his lawyers, and
allowed him to speak with his attorneys only in person. Kahle said his
Internet Archive, which has 500,000 card-holders, doesn't even keep the
records the FBI was seeking.
He was allowed to speak publicly Wednesday under a rare settlement in
which the FBI agreed to withdraw its letter and lift the gag order. That
should show other librarians, and members of the public who receive any of
the nearly 50,000 national security letters the government issues each
year, that "you can push back on these," Kahle said.
National security letters are subpoenas issued by federal agencies to
require businesses and other institutions to produce records of their
customers. The agencies do not need court approval for the letters.
A 1986 law initially authorized their use against suspected spies, but the
USA Patriot Act, passed after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001,
allowed agents to seek records of anyone connected to a foreign terrorism
or espionage investigation, even if the target is not a suspect.
The Bush administration has increasingly used the letters to sidestep a
1978 law requiring federal agents to get a warrant from a special court,
in a secret session, to obtain similar records. A law passed in 2006
barred agents from issuing national security letters to libraries, with
some exceptions, and also required regular audits by the Justice
Department's inspector general, who has found thousands of cases of misuse
of the letters.
A federal judge in New York ruled national security letters
unconstitutional in September, saying the gag order violated free speech
and interfered with judicial authority. The government has appealed.
Kahle's case is one of only two other instances in which a national
security letter has been challenged, his lawyers said Wednesday.
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=
/c/a/2008/05/07/BA7C10IJ17.DTL&feed=rss.bayarea>
or
The entire article can be read at the above URL.
Sincerely,
Sue Fraser
xcschild@yahoo.com
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