FBI rescinds secret order for Internet Archive records
The FBI has backed down on a secret request for information about a user of the Internet Archive digital library, thanks to a legal challenge from two prominent advocacy groups.
The case, which was brought by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the archive, dates to last year but only became public on Wednesday. That's because the type of request involved, known as a national security letter (NSL), is accompanied by a gag order that forbids the recipient from disclosing its existence or discussing it with anyone except his attorneys, who are also gagged. As a result of a settlement, the FBI agreed to withdraw the national security letter and to lift the gag order.
Internet Archive founder and digital librarian Brewster Kahle
(Credit: Internet Archive)The 2001 Patriot Act and its subsequent reauthorization dramatically expanded the FBI's ability to use NSLs, which do not require a court order and are supposed to be used only in investigations related to terrorism. Investigators are able to use the tactic to obtain customer records and logs from Internet service providers, telephone companies, financial institutions, but Congress in 2006 imposed limits on the FBI's ability to use NSLs on libraries. The EFF said this is the first known case to challenge an NSL served upon a library since those legal changes took effect.
The situation with the Internet Archive began last November, when the FBI served founder Brewster Kahle with an NSL (PDF) seeking an unspecified individual's name, address, and "any electronic communication transactional records" (i.e., not the content of communications, but logs of activity) pertaining to the user. Kahle, who is an EFF board member, believed the request was overbroad and decided to challenge the query in court, handing over only publicly available documents in the mean time.
"The free flow of information is at the heart of every library's work," Kahle said in a statement Wednesday. "That's why Congress passed a law limiting the FBI's power to issue NSLs to America's libraries. While it's never easy standing up to the government--particularly when I was barred from discussing it with anyone--I knew I had to challenge something that was clearly wrong."
The Internet Archive, founded in 1996, is a repository for archived Web sites, public domain books, concert recordings, and films, among other things. It has about half a million registered patrons and, according to the EFF, does not collect IP addresses of those who submit items to the collections or of those who read, view, or listen to its collections.
The Bush administration is hardly a stranger to lawsuits targeting its use of NSLs, and its challengers have met with some success in recent years. Last fall, for instance, a federal judge ruled the surreptitious requests for information were unconstitutional. A federal appeals court is expected to hear the government's appeal next month, the EFF said.
In addition, the FBI has taken heat two years in a row from the Department of Justice's inspector general--and, by extension, members of Congress--for misusing its NSL powers, including making attempts to seek and get information that would otherwise require a court order. The FBI says it has since instituted more internal checks on the process.
The police agency on Wednesday was quick to defend its actions in the Internet Archive case and the NSL approach more broadly. Here's a snippet from a statement released by spokesman John Miller:
"The information requested in the National Security Letter was relevant to an ongoing, authorized national security investigation. National Security Letters remain indispensable tools for national security investigations and permit the FBI to gather the basic building blocks for our counterterrorism and counterintelligence investigations. Internet Archive voluntarily provided publicly available information to the FBI, and identified for the FBI that information it possessed which was not publicly available. Internet Archive's refusal to disclose this information formed the basis of its civil suit, which the parties have now resolved through settlement."
Attorneys for Kahle said they considered the settlement a great victory. But they again voiced concern that untold numbers of improper NSLs have gone unchallenged because of their secretive nature.
"It appears that every time a national security letter recipient has challenged an NSL in court and forced the government to justify it, the government has ultimately withdrawn its demand for records," Melissa Goodman, an ACLU staff attorney who worked on the case, said in a statement. "In the absence of much needed judicial oversight--and with recipients silenced and the public in the dark--there is nothing to stop the FBI from abusing its NSL power."
http://techwatch.reviewk.com/2008/05/fbi-loses-war-on-internet-archive/
By all appearances, there now IS a way to stop the FBI from abusing it's NSL powers - start off by giving them the middle finger and challenge every single one of them in court. Just like a school yard bully, once you stand up to them they back down.
It'll have to do until we charge this current misadministration for all the crimes it's guilty of and repeal every single law it's passed. Reset - start over.
" The amount of islamic Anti-Christian propaganda is already becoming infamous, and is ruining the reputation of IA. " - March 08
http://www.archive.org/iathreads/post-view.php?id=182141
" it's a known fact that al qaeda uses the archive to send messages,brodcast propaganda and to inform cells.just read some of the texts full blown destroy christians and jews and to form a united world around islam but americans don't care but don't blame me when they take over i shouted warnings to deaf ears to people who where content with american idol,having oprah tell them what to read and thinking obama is their saviour(lol) just remember that..no more music,no sunday afternoon picnics cooking up some chicken and pork.watching football,baseball etc...remember when bending over and praying to the east with some sweaty hairy arab's ass in front of your face that folks didn't warn you.also cover your women and your daughters will be viewed as ****** only.
wish they listen to patton way back when,he saw it coming but they called him nuts.oh well they'll have to take me out before i convert to islam..**** them..2000 years of written history has shown what radical muslim is about.so go on al qaeda and keep using the archive."
http://www.archive.org/iathreads/post-view.php?id=192241
"If Archive.Org is hosting matierial that is potentially harmful to the US or it's allies, then it's giving aid and comfort to the enemy. As much as I love Archive.Org, maybe the FBI needs to be made aware of what's going on."
http://www.archive.org/iathreads/post-view.php?id=71678
"
Something weird is going on here. The OPEN SOURCE section is filling up with tons of what appear to be Islamic video footage of sermons and speeches and attacks with tanks and weapons and all kinds of crazy stuff. There's frequently no description at all, so there's no way to know what the stuff is untill it's downloaded. Lots of these are audio files, even though this is a video section. Many of the files with arab-sounding names are compressed into RAR and ZIP archives, and some are password protected, with no password supplied. Some of the uploads are not movies at all, but mislabeled archives stuffed with non-video files contained inside more archives. It's like someone is trying to hide something. "
"ok...i can explain that 2 you .... first yes i'm arabic... and what happens here is that those ppl ypu r talking about r using the file hosting service here 2 upload what they want.... and use archive.org links in thier forums"
"I've think http://www.archive.org might want to password protect the files here or something.
I monitor several Arabic web sites, this is the file host of choice for many months now for real life jihadi propaganda.
www.alneda.com which used to be the al Qaeda website is now American owned and is directed to an international discussion forum at www.wincoast.com.
If you were to check the video section, or the alneda forums, which is primarily Arabic translations, you will see that http://www.archive.org has been the host of choice, as I said earlier, for some time now.
"
LOOKS to me like we have a major problem brewing here.
Hiding behind crys of the EFF are not the right thing to do here.
The right thing to do is not to give aid to the anti-american islamic fascists.
- by benjaminstraight July 15, 2008 4:31 PM PDT
- benjamin straight writes: Mr. Kahle made a good fight.
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