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Microsoft Sues Justice Department Over Secret Customer Data Searches

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Re: Microsoft Sues Justice Department Over Secret Customer Data Searches

#21

Post by leggomylibro »

cmdrfred wrote: post #19
bpodgursky wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of those who are against Citizens United do not understand how chilling to free speech the alternative would be. Hint: there's a reason the ACLU believes Citizens United was the right decision.

So in a word where money != speech, speech is impacted negatively?

Put it this way, I wouldn't want my donations to to land me in jail because it wasn't protected speech.

Although donations to the wrong political group can certainly get you in big trouble today (if you're willing to stretch the definition of 'political group'), so...hm.

Re: Microsoft Sues Justice Department Over Secret Customer Data Searches

#22

Post by bpodgursky »

cmdrfred wrote: post #19
bpodgursky wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of those who are against Citizens United do not understand how chilling to free speech the alternative would be. Hint: there's a reason the ACLU believes Citizens United was the right decision.

So in a word where money != speech, speech is impacted negatively?

In that world, any publication making or costing money can be considered political speech and censored. The Sierra club newsletter could be considered politically motivated and prevented from publishing articles unless the donors stay within donation caps

Once you give the government a tool to restrict speech / spending, it will be used to cut both ways.

Re: Microsoft Sues Justice Department Over Secret Customer Data Searches

#23

Post by _delirium »

cmdrfred wrote: post #19
bpodgursky wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of those who are against Citizens United do not understand how chilling to free speech the alternative would be. Hint: there's a reason the ACLU believes Citizens United was the right decision.

So in a word where money != speech, speech is impacted negatively?

There are a variety of anti-Citizens-United positions, but the strongest (and most problematic) one is that corporations are not people, and the Bill of Rights secures rights only to people, therefore the First Amendment is inapplicable to corporations. That would, at the very least, require a revision in important precedents like New York Times Co. v. Sullivan [1], which assume that the First Amendment is applicable to corporations' publishing activities.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Times_Co._v._Sullivan

Re: Microsoft Sues Justice Department Over Secret Customer Data Searches

#25

Post by ChuckMcM »

It is interesting that law enforcement doesn't draw the connection between the abuse of a capability with the people making it harder to abuse. I don't think there would be any outrage or pushback if such requests were in the 10's a month rather in the 1000's a month.

Re: Microsoft Sues Justice Department Over Secret Customer Data Searches

#26

Post by wfunction »

tshtf wrote: post #5
dcgudeman wrote: post #2

'Microsoft’s filing zeroes in on a provision of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, written in 1986. The company argues that indefinite gag orders violate the First Amendment right to inform customers about the search of their files “as soon as secrecy is no longer required.” Additionally, the suit claims that the law “flouts” Fourth Amendment requirements that the government give notice to people when their p…

Amazon promised bi-annual transparency reports here: https://blogs.aws.amazon.com/security/blog/tag/Transparency+... However only one report (covering a 6-month period) has was issued and posted in the initial blog post on June 2015. None have followed: http://d0.awsstatic.com/certifications/Information_Request_R...

Maybe they meant biennial rather than biannual?

Re: Microsoft Sues Justice Department Over Secret Customer Data Searches

#27

Post by CamperBob2 »

tshtf wrote: post #5
dcgudeman wrote: post #2

'Microsoft’s filing zeroes in on a provision of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, written in 1986. The company argues that indefinite gag orders violate the First Amendment right to inform customers about the search of their files “as soon as secrecy is no longer required.” Additionally, the suit claims that the law “flouts” Fourth Amendment requirements that the government give notice to people when their p…

Amazon promised bi-annual transparency reports here: https://blogs.aws.amazon.com/security/blog/tag/Transparency+... However only one report (covering a 6-month period) has was issued and posted in the initial blog post on June 2015. None have followed: http://d0.awsstatic.com/certifications/Information_Request_R...

Bezos talks a good game. He's got a record of promising to work for things like patent reform without much follow-through.

Re: Microsoft Sues Justice Department Over Secret Customer Data Searches

#28

Post by subdane »

ProAm wrote: post #7
dcgudeman wrote: post #2

'Microsoft’s filing zeroes in on a provision of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, written in 1986. The company argues that indefinite gag orders violate the First Amendment right to inform customers about the search of their files “as soon as secrecy is no longer required.” Additionally, the suit claims that the law “flouts” Fourth Amendment requirements that the government give notice to people when their p…

My impression of Amazon is they care much more about selling product than the product itself, across all their lines of business. I see the complying without a fight because it would slow down the selling process and would prevent any hint of these searches from actually going on to the public if they did.

Well MSFT just out marketed them on this one :)

Re: Microsoft Sues Justice Department Over Secret Customer Data Searches

#29

Post by rayiner »

cmdrfred wrote: post #19
bpodgursky wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of those who are against Citizens United do not understand how chilling to free speech the alternative would be. Hint: there's a reason the ACLU believes Citizens United was the right decision.

So in a word where money != speech, speech is impacted negatively?

Citizens United did not say "money == speech." It said that peoples' right to make and distribute movies with core political speech does not disappear just because corporate money is used to do it. If Citizens United had gone the other way, e.g. the government could have banned the Google and Reddit protests against SOPA/PIPA.

Re: Microsoft Sues Justice Department Over Secret Customer Data Searches

#30

Post by icloudsearch »

Throwaway because I am currently under investigation. Apple inadvertently notified me that had subpoena'd my iCloud backups. I suspect that they violated the gag order in error. As a result they expedited their physical warrant and raided me 2 days later. As someone targeted by a federal investigation, it is clear that the government will vacuum up as much information as possible without my knowledge. Hopefully Microsoft succeeds in this lawsuit.
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