"Under the USA PATRIOT Act, NSLs allow the FBI to spy on Americans' telephone, Internet, and other records without any court approval and regardless of whether the target is suspected of a crime. With a single piece of paper, the FBI could force your ISP to turn over detailed information about your Internet communications, including the Web sites you've visited and the email addresses you've written to. Worse still, an NSL recipient is barred from notifying anyone else about the demand.

Last week, Judge Marrero ruled that this "gag order" is unconstitutional, and, in so doing, struck down the entire NSL statute. The gag not only tramples on the recipient's First Amendment rights but also prevents courts from fulfilling their Constitutional duty to check the other branches of government and scrutinize the restriction."

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