The US Justice Department has filed a secret lawsuit asking a judge to grant its “petition to enforce” a warrantless demand that Google release user data. Declan McCullagh, writing for CNET reports the lawsuit was filed on 22 April in response to Google’s refusal to comply with the federal government’s demand for user data through the use of a national security letter (NSL) which does not require a warrant, but only certification by an FBI field office that the information sought is relevant to a counterterrorism investigation.
National security letters allow the government to obtain details of its citizens’ confidential financial information and communications without judicial oversight and are thought to be widely used specifically because they don’t require prior court approval.
On 15 March, US District Judge Susan Illston ordered the US government to cease issuing NSLs and to immediately stop enforcing the gag orders associated with any outstanding NSL cases as unconstitutional.
Earlier in the day on 31 May, McCullagh filed a story for CNET reporting that US District Judge Susan Illston “rejected Google’s request to modify or throw out 19 so-called National Security Letters…” on the grounds that Google “has only raised broad arguments, not ones ‘specific to the 19 NSLs at issue.'”