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Saturday, July 2, 2016

Tech Companies Fight Back After Years of Being Deluged With Secret FBI Requests

Jenna McLaughlin

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Justice, and technology and internet companies have been waging a little-known war for years over how much information companies are obligated to hand over about customers during national security investigations — absent a court order.

In early June, when Yahoo disclosed three secret government requests for customer information — called national security letters — one of those requests revealed that the FBI might have been exceeding its authority by asking for email records, such as headers or browsing information, in addition to basic subscriber information.

While the revelation that the FBI kept asking for those records surprises some academics, lawmakers, and privacy advocates – national security attorneys and large technology companies have known about the problem for years, and have been arguing with FBI attorneys over what’s allowed and what’s not.

Meanwhile, the FBI has been pushing for a legislative solution to expand the range of information it can get with national security letters; there are currently two bills being discussed that could grant it......To Read More....

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