A legal battle between Google and the United States Department of Justice is heating up as the Internet behemoth challenges the Obama administration\u2019s warrantless requests for personal user data.<\/p>\n
\n Google has been opposing the National Security Letters, or NSLs,
\n documents sent to telecommunication companies in secret that
\n compel them to provide information about subscribers to the
\n government. The Justice Department does not need to warrant or
\n subpoena the information, instead relying on a Patriot
\n Act-provision that allows Federal Bureau of Investigation offices
\n around the country to request data by stating only that it is
\n required for a national security matters.\n<\/p>\n
\n Because NSLs are filed under seal and in almost all cases are
\n accompanied by a gag order that restricts the recipient from
\n speaking about the request, little information is publically
\n known about the process. On Friday, CNET reporter Declan
\n McCullagh revealed that Google\u2019s attempt to shut-down 19 NSLs it
\n received ended with a federal judge saying the company must honor
\n 17 of the government\u2019s requests.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cA federal judge has ruled that Google must comply with the
\n FBI’s warrantless requests for confidential user data, despite
\n the search company’s arguments that the secret demands are
\n illegal<\/i>,\u201d McCullagh wrote early Friday.\n<\/p>\n
\n McCullagh went on to say that the decision was made following a
\n closed door court session held May 10 in San Francisco,
\n California. According to his sources, US District Judge Susan
\n Illston rejected Google\u2019s attempt to modify or throw out 19 of
\n the NSLs they\u2019ve received while leaving the opportunity for two
\n of the requests to be squashed.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt wasn’t a complete win for the Justice Department,
\n however<\/i>,\u201d McCullagh added, noting, \u201cIllston all but
\n invited Google to try again<\/i>\u201d by saying the company failed to
\n raise arguments “specific to the 19 NSLs at issue<\/i>.” Google
\n will likely narrow their complaint to more specifically contest
\n the requests for those 17 orders, while Illston asked the
\n government to “provide further information<\/i>” prior to
\n making a decision about the other two.\n<\/p>\n
\n Only hours after McCullagh wrote of the closed door hearing, he
\n published a second article revealing a separate installation in
\n the long-standing fight between the feds and Google. As it turns
\n out, the recent meeting of attorneys in San Francisco conducted
\n in secrecy wasn\u2019t the only legal episode involving the two as if
\n late: McCullagh wrote that the Justice Department filed a lawsuit
\n against Google in New York on April 22 asking a federal judge to
\n force Google to comply with their requests.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cImmediately after the FBI’s New York field office sent an NSL
\n on April 22, the bureau filed a \u2018petition to enforce\u2019 in
\n Manhattan federal court on the same day, an abrupt and arguably
\n undiplomatic move that Google says did not give it a chance to
\n either comply or exercise its legal right to seek judicial
\n review<\/i>,\u201d he wrote.\n<\/p>\n
\n McCullagh added that Google asked for that lawsuit to be rejected
\n at the time, citing the case happening in San Francisco. Judge
\n Illston refused their warning, according to CNET because the
\n government\u2019s issue “is more squarely raised<\/i>” in the New
\n York litigation.\n<\/p>\n