2016 Internet Archive NSL
In this case, the Internet Archive pushed back against a formerly secret national security letter (NSL). Represented by EFF, the Archive informed the FBI that it did not have the information the agency was seeking and pointed out that NSL included misinformation about how to contest the accompanying gag order that demanded total secrecy about the
request. The FBI agreed to drop the gag order in this case and allow the publication of the NSL. The agency also said it would send clarifications about the law to potentially thousands of communications providers who have received NSLs in the year and a half prior.
This is the second NSL that the Internet Archive has published after battling with the FBI. In 2007, the Archive received an NSL that exceeded the FBI’s authority to issue demands to libraries. With help from EFF and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the FBI withdrew the letter and agreed to let the Archive go public in May of 2008.
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