Law & order

Judge criticizes secrecy rules surrounding FBI requests for companies’ data

A federal judge in a recent ruling criticized new rules regarding how long the government can demand secrecy from companies when it requests data on national security cases.

These demands, called national security letters (NSLs), are administrative subpoenas issued by FBI officials without having to seek judicial approval. They are generally accompanied by orders forbidding the recipients from disclosing the NSL’s existence.

In an opinion made public this week, U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg for the District of Columbia became the first judge to publicly assess new gag-order rules issued by the attorney general as mandated by the USA Freedom Act of 2015. These require the goverment to revisit gag orders when an investigation ends or on the three-year anniversary of the original subpoena.