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Judge orders Google to turn over data to FBI
By | Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal judge has ordered Google Inc. to comply with FBI warrantless demands for customer data.
She acknowledged as much in her four-page order in the Google case
made on May 20 and obtained by The Associated Press on Friday.
Illston put the Google ruling on hold until the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals could decide the matter. Until then, she said the Mountain View, Calif.-based company would have to comply with the letters unless it showed the FBI didn't follow proper procedures in making its demands for customer data in the 19 letters Google is challenging.
After receiving sworn statements from two top-ranking FBI officials, Illston said she was satisfied that 17 of the 19 letters were issued properly. She wanted more information on two other letters.
Google could appeal Illston's decision. The company declined comment Friday.
Kurt Opsah, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said it could be many more months before the appeals court rules on the constitutionality of the letters, which the FBI sends to telecommunication companies, Internet service providers, banks and others amid terror investigations. The letters are used to collect unlimited kinds of sensitive, private information, such as financial and phone records.
It was unclear from the judge's ruling what type of information the government sought to obtain with the letters. It was also unclear who the government was targeting.
In March, Illston found that the FBI's demand that recipients refrain from telling anyone — including customers — that they had received the letters was a violation of free speech rights.
"We are disappointed that the same judge who declared these letters unconstitutional is now requiring compliance with them," Opsah said on Friday.
Illston's order omits any mention of Google or that the proceedings have been closed to the public.
But the judge said "the petitioner" was involved in a similar case filed on April 22 in New York federal court.
Public records show that on that same day, the federal government filed a "petition to enforce National Security Letter" against Google after the company declined to cooperate with government demands.
The letters, along with the recent seizure of reporters' phone records by President Barack Obama's administration, have prompted complaints of government privacy violations in the name of national security.
In 2007, the Justice Department's inspector general found widespread violations in the FBI's use of the letters, including demands without proper authorization and information obtained in non-emergency circumstances. The FBI has tightened oversight of the system.
The FBI made 16,511 national security letter requests for information regarding 7,201 people in 2011, the latest data available.
http://news.yahoo.com/judge-orders-google-turn-over-data-fbi-000951138.html
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal judge has ordered Google Inc. to comply with FBI warrantless demands for customer data.
U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston on Tuesday rejected Google's argument that the so-called National Security Letters the company received from the FBI
were unconstitutional and unnecessary.
Illston ordered Google to comply
with the secret demands even though she found the letters
unconstitutional in March in a separate case filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Illston put the Google ruling on hold until the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals could decide the matter. Until then, she said the Mountain View, Calif.-based company would have to comply with the letters unless it showed the FBI didn't follow proper procedures in making its demands for customer data in the 19 letters Google is challenging.
After receiving sworn statements from two top-ranking FBI officials, Illston said she was satisfied that 17 of the 19 letters were issued properly. She wanted more information on two other letters.
Google could appeal Illston's decision. The company declined comment Friday.
Kurt Opsah, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said it could be many more months before the appeals court rules on the constitutionality of the letters, which the FBI sends to telecommunication companies, Internet service providers, banks and others amid terror investigations. The letters are used to collect unlimited kinds of sensitive, private information, such as financial and phone records.
It was unclear from the judge's ruling what type of information the government sought to obtain with the letters. It was also unclear who the government was targeting.
In March, Illston found that the FBI's demand that recipients refrain from telling anyone — including customers — that they had received the letters was a violation of free speech rights.
"We are disappointed that the same judge who declared these letters unconstitutional is now requiring compliance with them," Opsah said on Friday.
Illston's order omits any mention of Google or that the proceedings have been closed to the public.
But the judge said "the petitioner" was involved in a similar case filed on April 22 in New York federal court.
Public records show that on that same day, the federal government filed a "petition to enforce National Security Letter" against Google after the company declined to cooperate with government demands.
The letters, along with the recent seizure of reporters' phone records by President Barack Obama's administration, have prompted complaints of government privacy violations in the name of national security.
In 2007, the Justice Department's inspector general found widespread violations in the FBI's use of the letters, including demands without proper authorization and information obtained in non-emergency circumstances. The FBI has tightened oversight of the system.
The FBI made 16,511 national security letter requests for information regarding 7,201 people in 2011, the latest data available.
http://news.yahoo.com/judge-orders-google-turn-over-data-fbi-000951138.html
Why Is The Leftist Media Going After The IRS Victims?
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IRS Coming For Fat People And Smokers
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Irony: Couple Cuffed For Engaging In Free Speech In Front Of Independence Hall
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OTHER ARTICLES
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PREVIOUSLY FEATURED |
DOJ: Slam Muslims on Facebook, face feds
Social media postings that 'violate civil rights' subject to federal jurisdiction
Bob Unruh
Bloggers beware. And those who use email, too. And those on Facebook. And Twitter. And anyone else using social media: Diss a Muslim and the Department of Justice will be on your case with the full weight of federal law.
The Obama administration, which is launching a series of Muslim Outreach Summits so that Islamists can tell federal officials how they better can serve that community, says it also is holding educational outreaches to let people know that Internet postings that violate civil rights are subject to federal prosecution.
He said everyone needs to understand that Internet postings that violate civil rights are subject to federal jurisdiction.
After all, he said, while some Muslims may blow up buildings, hijack airliners and kill thousands, there are terrorists of other religions, too.
“[Oklahoma City bombers] Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were both Christians as was the guy who shot up the Sikh temple [in Wisconsin],” Killian claimed.
The federal strategy immediately made the “Corruption Chronicles” feature assembled by officials at Judicial Watch, the corruption-fighting activists in Washington.
“In its latest effort to protect followers of Islam in the U.S. the Obama Justice Department warns against using social media to spread information considered inflammatory against Muslims, threatening that it could constitute a violation of civil rights,” the organization said.
Judicial Watch noted that the Obama administration already has reached out to personally reassure Muslims that the DOJ is protecting them. In that unprecedented move, Attorney General Eric Holder assured a San Francisco-based group called Muslim Advocates, which urges members not to cooperate with federal investigations, that he is grateful to have Muslims with which to partner.
The Obama administration also has hired a special Homeland Security adviser, Mohamed Elibiary, who openly supports an Islamist theologian who condemns U.S. prosecutions of terrorists, Judicial Watch said.
And the president has ordered the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to focus on Muslim diplomacy and officials with Homeland Security covertly have met with extremist Arab, Muslim and Sikh groups to talk about national security matters.
The State Department lent its weight by sending anti-America imam Feisal Abdul Rauf on a trip to the Middle East for outreach to Muslims.
Explained Judicial Watch, “Over the years, the Obama administration has embarked on a fervent crusade to befriend Muslims by creating a variety of outreach programs at a number of key federal agencies.”
Tullahoma News said Killian wants to let people know about Muslim culture and civil rights laws.
“We want to inform everybody about what the law is, but more importantly, we want to provide what the law means to Muslims, Hindus and every other religion in the country.
“It’s why we came here in the first place,” he continued. “In England, they were using Christianity to further their power in government. That’s why the First Amendment is there.”
WND had reported just a day earlier on the “Muslim Outreach Summits.”
WND initially discovered documents referring to the Muslim summits while examining a U.S. Department of Education procurement of data-gathering and report-writing services.
The services are specific to information being assembled by the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, or WHIAAPI, which Obama created via executive order in 2009.
Upon closer inspection, however, WND learned that the Education Department explicitly will direct the selected contractor to chronicle findings and recommendations gleaned from the Muslim Outreach Summits.
The White House views this year’s venues as an extension of a previous outreach to “new immigrants and refugees – some of the most underserved in the AAPI community,” according to a document titled “WHIAAPI 2013 Faith-Based and Community Engagement.”
Complementing the prior effort will be the three “regional convenings,” tentatively scheduled June 15 in Chicago, June 22 in San Francisco and June 29 in New York City.
“These cities are main AAPI immigrant hubs and entry points for new immigrants/refugees,” according to a related document, “Questions Received from Vendors: Development and Preparation of the AAPI Annual Report to the President.”
“Each convening with [sic] include panel discussions/workshops with federal officials on key issues impacting the community and also an open-dialogue session to hear directly from the community about issues of concern.”
Sometime after the three Muslim Outreach Summits, the chosen contractor will develop and then present its summary report to the president and to newly appointed WHIAAPI commissioners.
The contracting action – the first of its kind since its inception in 2008 – will help lay the foundation for the initiative’s future work, the document says.
http://www.wnd.com/2013/05/doj-slam-muslims-on-facebook-face-feds/
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