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Author: Fanra

Aug 24th 2011 at 10:48:03 PM

In government there is what is called a "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gag_order Gag order]]" (no, not ordering someone to joke:).

In the United States, a "National Security Letter", an administrative subpoena used by the FBI, has an attached gag order which restricts the recipient from ever saying anything about being served with one.

Most normal subpoenas allow for notice to the person who's information is being requested, so they may dispute the government's (or in civil cases, the other party's) need for it.  But the gag order prevents them from doing so, since they don't even know it exists.

Some U.S. libraries protested this by posting a sign, "No National Security Letters have been received by this library", with the idea that if they were served with one, they would remove the sign, thus legally letting people know without violating the gag order.

In addition, people attempting to sue the U.S. government for breaking the law and violating their rights must first prove their rights were violated.  However, that is classified information.  A nice Catch22.   One person who the government accidentally sent a copy of the illegal spying report was forced by the courts to return it to the government and thus their lawsuit was then thrown out for lack of evidence.