Craig Timberg reports: The U.S. government threatened to fine Yahoo $250,000 a day in 2008 if it failed to comply with a broad demand to hand over user data that the company believed was unconstitutional, according to court documents unsealed Thursday that illuminate how federal officials forced American tech companies to participate in the NSA’s…
Category: Govt
AG Jepsen Joins Colleagues in Urging FCC to Permit Phone Companies to Block Unwanted Telemarketing Calls
Attorney General George Jepsen and 38 other state and territorial attorneys general sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) formally requesting its opinion regarding the legal authority of telephone companies to electronically block unwanted automated telemarketing calls – so called “robocalls” — intended for their customers. Telephone companies have claimed that federal law…
NYPD Uses Discovery Tactics to Deter Civil Rights Claims
Shirin Sinnar writes: The discovery stage of national security litigation rarely attracts much interest, at least where it does not involve an invocation of “state secrets” by the federal government. But in the case of Raza v. City of New York, it should. The ACLU lawsuit, filed a year ago in the Eastern District of New York,…
NEW EMAILS: IRS Obtained Donor Lists For ‘Secret Research Project’
Patrick Howley reports: The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) improperly obtained donor lists from nonprofit groups as part of a “secret research project” being run by Lois Lerner and other officials. IRS official David Fish revealed the “secret research project” in a June 27, 2012 email to Lerner’s direct subordinate Holly Paz, according to emails released Thursday by the…