[Wikimedia-l] NSA

[Robert Rohde]

On Wed, Jul 31, 2013 at 5:13 PM, Luis Villa <lvilla at wikimedia.org> wrote:
> As a quick reminder here, before any conspiracy theories about orders and
> data retention get out of control:
>
> 1) We've flat-out denied any sort of involvement in this, and we continue
> to stand by that denial:
> https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/06/14/prism-surveillance-wikimedia/
>
> 2) Take with a grain of salt, of course, but our understanding (based on
> the few gag orders that have been made public) is that we could be forced
> to not confirm having received a National Security Letter, but we can't
> actually be forced to lie about it. In other words, if we'd received one we
> would not be allowed to say "we've received one", but we also could not be
> forced to deny it - we'd always have the option to remain silent instead.
<snip>

If we are going to chase crazy down the rabbit hole, then it may be
worth noticing that the NSL gag order makes it a crime to discuss NSL
demands with anyone except A) personal legal counsel, and B) persons
who are directly necessary to fulfill the demand.  In particular, if I
(as an individual) am served with an NSL then there is no provision
allowing me to tell my boss or my subordinates unless I directly need
their help to satisfy the request.  If someone with root access were
directly served with an NSL, it isn't obvious that WMF executives
would ever learn about it.  This is one of the ways that NSL gag
orders are ridiculous.

-Robert Rohde