FBI request for Twitter account data may have overstepped legal guidelines
FBI request for Twitter account data may have overstepped
legal guidelines
By Dustin Volz January 27, 2017
WASHINGTON, Jan 27 (Reuters) - The FBI appeared to go
beyond the scope of existing legal guidance in seeking certain kinds of
internet records from Twitter as recently as last year, legal experts said,
citing two warrantless surveillance orders the social media company published
on Friday.
Twitter said its disclosures were the first time the
company had been allowed to publicly reveal the secretive orders, which were
delivered with gag orders when they were issued in 2015 and 2016. Their
publication follows similar disclosures in recent months by other major
internet companies, including Alphabet's Google and Yahoo.
Each of the two new orders, known as national security
letters (NSLs), specifically request a type of data known as electronic
communication transaction records, which can include some email header data and
browsing history, among other information.
In doing so, the orders bolster the belief among privacy
advocates that the FBI has routinely used NSLs to seek internet records beyond
the limitations set down in a 2008 Justice Department legal memo, which
concluded such orders should be constrained to phone billing records.
The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for
comment. An FBI inspector general report from 2014 indicated that it disagreed
with the memo's guidance.
In a blog post announcing the two NSL disclosures,
Twitter said it did not hand over all the information the FBI requested.
"While the actual NSLs request a large amount of
data, Twitter provides a very limited set of data in response to NSLs
consistent with federal law and interpretive guidance from the U.S. Department
of Justice," Elizabeth Banker, associate general counsel at Twitter,
wrote.
The identity of the accounts sought by the FBI are
redacted in both of the NSLs.
Aaron Crocker, a staff attorney at the Electronic
Frontier Foundation, said the orders disclosed Friday were among a small
handful of those publicly released that show the FBI continues to ask for
internet records despite the 2008 guidance.
"This is an ongoing practice and it is significantly
beyond the scope of what is intended," said Crocker, whose organization is
challenging the constitutionality of NSLs in the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals. Twitter has also sued the government to more freely discuss NSLs.
National security letters are a type of government order
for communications data sent to service providers. They are usually issued with
a gag order, meaning the target is often unaware that records are being
accessed, and they do not require a warrant.
They have been available as a law enforcement tool since
the 1970s, but their frequency and breadth expanded dramatically under the USA
Patriot Act, which was passed shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Tens of
thousands of NSLs are issued annually.
In June of last year the U.S. Senate narrowly rejected a
Republican-backed proposal to expand the kinds of telephone and internet
records the FBI could request under an NSL to include senders and recipients of
emails, some information about websites a person visits and social media log-in
data.
The legislation failed amid opposition from some major
technology companies and civil liberties advocates, but lawmakers have said
they intend to pursue the expansion again.
(Reporting by Dustin Volz; Editing by Andrew Hay)
Copyright 2017.
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