U.S. appeals court upholds nondisclosure rules for surveillance orders

Last edited Fri Jul 21, 2017, 07:34 AM - Edit history (1)

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. federal appeals court on Monday upheld nondisclosure rules that allow the FBI to secretly issue surveillance orders for customer data to communications firms, a ruling that dealt a blow to privacy advocates.

A unanimous three-judge panel on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco sided with a lower court ruling in finding that rules permitting the FBI to send national security letters under gag orders are appropriate and do not violate the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution's free speech protections.

Content distribution firm CloudFlare and phone network operator CREDO Mobile had sued the government in order to notify customers of five national security letters received between 2011 and 2013.

Andrew Crocker, an attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which represented the companies in the consolidated case, said no immediate decision whether to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court had been made. He called the ruling disappointing.

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JULY 17, 2017 / 1:48 PM / 43 MINUTES AGO

Dustin Volz


Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-surveillance-idUSKBN1A21XJ