A telecom and Internet company is backing Twitter's lawsuit over the right to publish the government's secret information requests known as National Security Letters (NSLs). The firms, who must remain anonymous for legal reasons, want to publicize the efforts they have made to protect the privacy of their customer's information.
In October 2014, Twitter sued the government over "gag orders" that restrict making these information requests public, claiming they were in violation of the company's First Amendment rights. NSLs that are issued by the federal government, but not approved by a judge, almost always contain a gag order barring the companies from notifying their customers or the public that any demands have been made.
The anonymous companies who are represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed an amicus brief on Feb. 18 arguing that the federal gag orders impinge upon free speech rights.
"The Supreme Court as well as courts across the land have recognized that a prior restraint -- preventing speech in the first instance instead of imposing a penalty after the speech -- is a serious and dangerous step," said EFF Legal Fellow Andrew Crocker.
In January 2014, five tech companies, including Google and Microsoft made a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice over NSLs which allowed the firms to publish some of the information demands, but stopped well short of full disclosure.
A federal district court in San Francisco barred NSLs and their associated gag orders in another EFF case in January 2013, but the decision was stayed pending appeal.
"The district court in our case against National Security Letters was right," said EFF Deputy General Counsel Kurt Opsahl. "We are asking this court to reach the same conclusion, and allow the public to get information they need about law enforcement activities."
The FBI has used NSLs for decades, but have been used much more extensively since 9/11, and the surveillance requests have come under much more public scrutiny since the Edward Snowden revelations in 2013.
