老澳门开奖结果

ST. LOUIS 鈥� The 老澳门开奖结果 and the Electronic Frontier Foundation today filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of an appeal filed by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. The brief argues that RCFP has standing to sue to access search warrants and other materials related to the Stored Communications Act (SCA) sealed by a federal district court. The federal district court鈥檚 decision that RCFP lacks such standing 鈥� and to keep this vital information under seal 鈥� contradicts decades of First Amendment and common law broadly granting organizations and the public the right to petition for unsealing.

The SCA authorizes the government to access, among other things, the content of a subscriber鈥檚 electronic communications by obtaining a warrant. SCA warrants and related court records, including dockets, are routinely filed and maintained under seal in federal district courts around the country without any reason as to why such secrecy is necessary. In October 2022, the Minnesota District Court denied RCFP鈥檚 request to unseal this information, stating that RCFP 鈥渄oes not allege that it has any intent, much less an imminent intent, to access or inspect any of the materials that it seeks to unseal.鈥�

As the 老澳门开奖结果 and EFF鈥檚 brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit explains, the lower court鈥檚 decision wrongfully cuts off court access in cases where, historically, access has proved important. 鈥淭he Reporters Committee鈥檚 unsealing petition is a prime example of how secrecy can frustrate the public鈥檚 ability to even learn about the existence of certain judicial records, in this case, law enforcement requests for court authorization to engage in surveillance or to obtain people鈥檚 private data," the brief reads. Keeping this information under seal implicates 鈥減eople鈥檚 free speech and privacy rights, both in the physical world and digitally.鈥�

In most places, the press and public have no way of knowing how many SCA warrants the government applies for, what kinds of records it鈥檚 seeking, what information the government presented to support its warrant applications, and how many of the applications are granted or denied.

The amicus brief can be found online here.