Apple Receives First National Security Letter

Apple revealed this week that it received a National Security Letter during the last six months of 2016. The news, which came as part of the company’s latest biannual transparency report, marks the first NSL Apple has reported receiving. The iPhone manufacturer released the report via a portal on...

Cloudflare Shares National Security Letter It Received in 2013

Thanks to the lifting of a gag order, on Tuesday security firm Cloudflare was finally able to post a National Security Letter it received from the Federal Bureau of Investigation back in 2013. Cloudflare’s counsel Kenneth R. Carter acknowledged the lifting of the order and said the letter is part...

Google Handles Record Number of Government Requests for Data

Google fielded a record number of government requests for user data during the first half of 2016, according to its updated Transparency Report. It was also able to report that it received at least one National Security Letter during the six months between July and December 2015. “Pursuant to the...

Subpoena for Signal Messaging Data Renders Little

Open Whisper Systems, the non-profit group behind the encrypted messaging app Signal, was served with a subpoena for user data earlier this year but since the company keeps such little information on its users, it was unable to produce most of what it was asked for. The American Civil Liberties...

National Security Letter Attachment Details

While the Snowden documents have demystified the intelligence community’s hacking abilities, few specifics are known about National Security Letters, law enforcement’s most powerful tool to compel telecommunications and Internet service providers to turn over a broad scope of user data, and which...

Gag Order Eased on NSA surveillance Transparency Reporting

A gag order has been eased that prevented technology and telecommunications companies from reporting requests for customer data made under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act FISA. The move comes on the heels of announced surveillance reforms by President Obama on Jan. 17. Obama, during an...

Google, Microsoft Seek Help in Lifting FISA Gag Order

Google and Microsoft have locked arms with a number of civil liberties advocates in filing a brief with the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court hoping to lift a gag order preventing the two tech giants from releasing information on their role in the NSA’s surveillance activities. To...

Google ordered to hand over sensitive users details to FBI without a warrant

Judge Susan Illston of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Friday has ordered the Google to hand over customer details to FBI without a warrant. FBI counter terrorism agents began issuing the secret letters, which don't require a judge's approval, after Congress...

Wired: Courts Back Government After Tech Company Challenges National Security Letter Gag Rule

Wired’s ThreatLevel blog is digging into the story of technology companies pushing back against the government’s use of super-secret National Security Letters NSLs to collect information on “persons of interest” to the FBI earlier this year. According to the Wired account, an unnamed company – ve...