Fri Mar 15, 2013, 09:30 PM

Judge: FBI gag orders unconstitutional

Source: SFGate

SAN FRANCISCO -- In a blow against government secrecy, a federal judge ruled Friday that the tens of thousands of "national security letters" the FBI sends each year demanding customer records from phone companies, banks and others, are unconstitutional because they forbid recipients from revealing that the letters exist.

While the government has valid reasons to keep secret the contents of the letters, which involve investigations of terrorism or espionage, a gag order that makes it a crime to disclose one has received such a letter "restrains ... speech about government conduct" with little opportunity for judicial review, said U.S. District Judge Susan Illston of San Francisco.

She directed the FBI to stop issuing national security letters that contain gag orders, but put her ruling on hold during an expected government appeal.

Attorney Matt Zimmerman of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which filed the suit in May 2011 on behalf of an unnamed telecommunications company, said Friday that the gag orders "have truncated the public debate on these controversial surveillance tools."

The telecom company "looks forward to the day when it can publicly discuss its experience," Zimmerman said.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/nation/article/Judge-FBI-gag-orders-unconstitutional-4359013.php