Google will have to disclose user data at the request of the FBI

Google has lost in court in the case of the company received letters of inquiry from the FBI demanding the disclosure of user data. The court considered 19 such letters, 17 of which were defeated by Google, and 2 judges each requested additional information. The letters themselves, according to relatively recently (2001) accepted rules, give the FBI the right to access user data stored in telecommunications companies without a court order.

From 2003 to 2006, almost 200 thousand such letters were sent out, and 97% of the messages required not to disclose the fact of receiving such a letter. That is, in fact, a company that received a request letter from the FBI does not have the right to report such a letter to anyone. Due to the secrecy regime, the judicial review itself was closed, and there was not much data about it. Despite the fact that the decision was made in the interests of the FBI, the judge made it clear that if Google finds arguments for each of the 19 letters, the case may be reconsidered.
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National Security Letters (NLS) entitle the FBI to obtain such information about a user as name, address, duration of use of a particular service, and other data. Such letters have the right to send FBI employees throughout the country, except Washington, DC

The NLS case itself was not considered for the first time. In 2008, a similar case was carried out, then a little strange decision was made: an amendment on the right to receive personal data of users at the request of the FBI is not constitutional. But it was not abolished, but reworked, so that it was “more constitutional.” So, in 2008 it was decided that such letters can be sent only if it is about disclosing data of people who may be involved in the affairs of terrorists.

So Google corporations will have to disclose personal data of users in this case, plus, most likely, go to meet the FBI in the future.

Via cnet