The federal government’s decision to redact information...
The federal government’s decision to redact information in its response to a petition from technology companies seeking to disclose more information about U.S. surveillance requests “is within the discretion of the executive branch, and in any event does not interfere…
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with the legal arguments the companies can offer,” it responded to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (http://1.usa.gov/J2WikO). The response to FISC released Monday and dated Friday is the most recent move in the months-long attempt by five tech and social media giants -- led by Google and Microsoft -- to argue the First Amendment gives them the right to disclose the specific number and type of government surveillance requests they receive as long as they don’t disclose the content or surveillance target (CD Oct 3 p5). The federal government released a response in October urging FISC to deny the tech companies’ request. The companies responded in November, asking for more transparency in the government’s response, saying the redacted portions obfuscated the government’s legal rationale behind its stance and violated the First Amendment (CD Nov 14 p19). “None of the legal arguments in the government’s public brief have been redacted,” said the government’s most recent response. “The classified information is irrelevant to the companies’ argument about the scope of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act’s nondisclosure provisions.” The tech companies have until Dec. 20 to respond.