John Leonard reports:
Riseup, the Seattle-based collective that provides secure online communication tools designed for social activists, has confirmed that it received warrants from the FBI to inspect two users’ emails.
Riseup users had warned on social media that the group’s “warrant canary” had not been updated for the Winter 2016 quarter. A warrant canary is simply a renewable statement confirming that an organisation has not been issued with a court order to compromise users’ details within the time period it covers. The non-renewal of a warrant canary is a sign that the organisation may have been served with a gagging order preventing it from notifying its users of the receipt of a warrant.
In November, Riseup issued a cryptic tweet, which users interpreted as a reference to the non-renewal of the warrant canary:
“Listen to the hummingbird, whose wings you cannot see, listen to the hummingbird, don’t listen to me. #LeonardCohen“
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