FBI Files a "Secret Justification" For Gag Order 167
An anonymous reader notes a story up at Ars on the FBI's continuing penchant for secrecy. "Clearly, the FBI isn't ready to give up its Bush-era secrecy addition just yet. ...in the case of Doe v. Holder, the FBI is carrying out a secret investigation using secret guidelines on what is and is not constitutional, and as part of that investigation they've compelled the secrecy of a service provider and are using a secret justification to argue that nobody's First Amendment rights are being violated."
Re:Bush-era? (Score:5, Informative)
The NSL at the heart of this case was issued while Bush was in office. The Patriot Act (with the NSL provisions) was signed into law by Bush. I don't think it is unfair to mention Bush in this context.
Re:What's with (Score:3, Informative)
we expect that to be changing under the new administration,
Based on what? Obama's policies on on domestic security and spying fall somewhat in line with Bush's, and he made no attempt to hide it during his campaign. There's even evidence with Gitmo shutting down. Some of the detainees will still be held indefinitely without trial in the interest of national security that the administration can't elaborate on.
Re:What? (Score:1, Informative)
...but the idea that Palin was somehow outside of that vile ignorant corruption is absurd.
Look, I'm just as cynical as the next guy (read my comment history if you want to verify it), but as a resident of Alaska for 20 years, Palin -- while certainly not perfect -- has in many ways been a breath of fresh air. Under her administration as governor, Alaska has (finally!!!) started cleaning house. The investigations into government corruption in AK have toppled both Dems and Republicans. I would really like to have seen what would have happened had she made it to V.P.
:(
In any case, she couldn't possibly have been worse than the "change" and "hope" that we ended up putting in the White House
Re:Existential rights (Score:2, Informative)
The US is a Constitutional Republic.
Constitutional Republic [wikipedia.org]