The U.S. government has dropped its gag order prohibiting a Connecticut library group from saying that it received a secret FBI order demanding that it turn over patron records and e-mail messages, The New York Times reported. The librarians had gone to court, claiming the order violated their free speech rights. The government apparently relented for two reasons: The new version of the USA Patriot Act allows some discretion in letting groups identify themselves as targets of investigation, and the public already knew that this particular library was investigated, because government accidentally disclosed it in court records, which was widely reported in the press.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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