Court mulls secrecy of national security letters

The article, “Court mulls secrecy of national security letters,” in the Washington post discusses the legitimacy of the force-able request by the US government to companies and businesses to hand over personal data and information on the grounds of “National Security”.  These requests, also known as “Gag-orders” or National Security Letters (NSLs), are executed without any judicial oversight, and have aggravated the companies which receive them.

According to the government ,  such demands are absolutely necessary in order to safeguard national security and ignoring them would make the nation susceptible to terrorism and any other threats. These requests have been going on for years,however of recent, there has been a serious backlash by these which have received these requests. One reason is because of the recent disclosures of government surveillance and secondly, it is seen as very unconstitutional by courts and civil libertarians.

In my opinion, I think that national security is of great importance, however; there must be a strong consideration for both the constitution of the United States and civil liberties. There must not be an abuse of such powers and an infringement of individual rights. Thus, it is absolutely within the rights of these companies and entities to fight against these requests. In doing so, they must not be held accountable, but rather , the government itself must be.

In conclusion, It is my hope that google, yahoo, Microsoft, and facebook in conjunction with the unnamed company, win the case and have their say. Doing so sets the precedent that the government cannot do as it pleases and that the rule of law is in effect. Moreover, it establishes that the constitution of the United States is being adhered to.

See link here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/court-mulls-secrecy-of-national-security-letters/2014/10/08/901a6024-4eba-11e4-877c-335b53ffe736_story.html