Microsoft and Google filed a motion for stay...
Microsoft and Google filed a motion for stay Friday, requesting an additional 10 days to file amended motions in their case against the Department of Justice over government surveillance programs, said Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) documents (http://1.usa.gov/1769IUT). The case…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
involves requests by Microsoft and Google to release more specific information about the requests they receive for user information under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The motion for stay gives Justice more time to file its opposition brief, which -- after six extensions -- was to be due to the FISC on Friday. Justice declined to comment other than directing us to the case’s FISC docket and last week’s statement from Director of National Intelligence James Clapper that committed to release aggregate information annually about FISA surveillance programs (CD Sept 2 p3). An industry official said the amended requests will likely mirror requests made in a coalition letter -- signed by 22 companies including Google and Microsoft -- to the White House, intelligence community and members of Congress (http://bit.ly/13wbD0Y). “We're thankful to Google and Microsoft for continuing to fight in court for their First Amendment right to inform their users, and for refusing to accept the Administration’s transparency half-measures,” said Kevin Bankston, Center for Democracy and Technology director-free expression, in a statement Friday. He said last week’s “events make clear that Congress should move forward immediately with the transparency reporting legislation” introduced in August in both the House and the Senate, “rather than waiting to see if the Administration will deliver meaningful transparency on its own.”