THE FBI UNBOUND

National Security Letter with gag order, is unconstitutional.

Video of a Library who sued the Attorney General.

(Your Patriot act at work to dig into your private library activities)

National Security Letters (NSLs) are an extraordinary search procedure which gives the FBI the power to compel the disclosure of customer records held by banks, telephone companies, Internet Service Providers, and others. These entities are prohibited, or "gagged," from telling anyone about their receipt of the NSL, which makes oversight difficult. The Number of NSLs issued has grown dramatically since the Patriot Act expanded the FBI's authority to issue them.



http://www.teachpeace.com/fbiunbound1.htm

The ACLU has challenged this Patriot Act statute in court in three cases.

http://www.aclu.org/national-security-technology-and-liberty/national-security-letters

Plaintiff who challenged FBI's national security letters reveals concerns.

For six years, Nicholas Merrill has lived in a surreal world of half-truths, where he could not tell even his fiancee, his closest friends or his mother that he is "John Doe" -- the man who filed the first-ever court challenge to the FBI's ability to obtain personal data on Americans without judicial approval.

Friends would mention the case when it was in the news and the normally outspoken Merrill would change the subject.

He would turn up at the federal courthouse to hear the arguments, and in an out-of-body moment he would realize that no one knew he was the plaintiff challenging the FBI's authority to issue "national security letters," as they are known, and its ability to impose a gag on the recipient.

The rest:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/09/AR2010080906252.html