Tag Archive: letter

The Internet Archive is a non-profit organization that stores web pages. In November 2007 it received a request for information on one of its users from theFBI. It refused to comply, and found itself slapped with a National Security Letter NSL) that meant founder Brewster Khale could only discuss the matter with hislawyers – even the other members of the board had to be kept in the dark.   Kahle, who also sits on the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) board, handedover only publicly available documents on the user and then challenged the Letter with help from the ACLU and the EFF, and now he’s won, as the FBI hasrescinded the Letter, allowing him to talk freely about the matter. The FBI plans to make the matter public, but with identifying information blacked out. It’s the third successful challenge ofa National Security Letter.   NSLs are issued secretly to let the FBI obtain customer records from ISP, financial institutions or credit reporting agencies and usually include a gag order,forbidding the company from talking about it.   "The free flow of information is at the heart of every library’s work. That’s why Congress passed a law limiting the FBI’s power to issueNSLs to America’s libraries," said Brewster Kahle. "While it’s never easy standing up to the government — particularly when I was barred from discussing it with anyone — I knew I had tochallenge something that was clearly wrong. I’m grateful that I am able now to talk about what happened to me, so that other libraries can learn how they can fight back from these overreachingdemands."

MI5 is taking the threat of Chinese hackers very seriously, it seems. They’ve taken the unprecedented step of sending a letter to 300 of the top Britishcompanies warning of the increased problems the hackers could cause.   Part of the warning was printed on the Centre for the Protection of NationalInfrastructure site and read,   “The contents of the letter highlight the director general’s concerns about the possible damage to UK business resulting from electronic attacksponsored by Chinese state organisations, and that the attacks are designed to defeat best-practice IT security systems. The letter acknowledges the strong economic and commercial reasons to dobusiness with China, but the need to ensure management of the risks involved."   Several months ago hackers, believed to be from China, penetrated UK government servers, and are alsobelieved to be behind attacks on the US, Germany and France.   There have also been attacks on several major companies like Rolls-Royce, according to the Times, but these are believed to be industrial spying.