Google, Microsoft, and LinkedIn are requesting oral argument on their motion to be able to be more transparent with users about government requests for user information.
Indeed, they seem to have really come out swinging in response to the government’s September 30th response and declaration, which were submitted ex parte and in camera, with the plaintiffs only getting a highly redacted version of the response.
The tech giants are asking the court to strike all the redacted sections, or in the alternative, to give them greater access to the material so they are fighting this on a level playing field. In their argument, they note that there must be a legal justification for the government to prohibit providers from sharing the data they have already been entrusted with (i.e., the number of orders), and the government has failed to provide that legal justification in the redacted materials available to them.