American Civil Liberties Union v. Ashcroft (filed April 9, 2004 in the United States) is a lawsuit filed on behalf of a formerly unknown Internet Service Provider (ISP) company under the pseudonym John Doe, Inc. by the American Civil Liberties Union against the U.S. federal government, by the Department of Justice under former U.S. attorney general John Ashcroft.

In 2010, it was revealed that John Doe was in fact Nicholas Merrill of Calyx Internet Access.

The government was expected to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court, and until the district court ruling is reviewed, the secrecy procedures of the NSL remain in place.

2010 – Partial lift of gag order

On August 10, 2010, after 6 years Nicholas Merrill was partially released from his gag order and allowed to reveal his identity, although he could not reveal what information the FBI sought from him. This was 3 years after Merrill won a 'liberty award' from the ACLU, which had to present the award to an empty chair at the time. Merrill has since founded the nonprofit Calyx Institute to provide education and research on privacy issues.

2015 – Full lift of gag order

On September 14, 2015, 11 years after the initial NSL, a federal district court judge in New York fully lifted the gag order, allowing Merrill to speak freely about the contents of the NSL he received. The court order went into effect 90 days after the initial ruling, to allow the government time to appeal the decision if it wished.

See also

  • Warrant canary

References

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  • Court decision on ACLU web site, pdf-file
  • "Doe v. Holder : Internet Service Provider's NSL", ACLU
  • John Doe, Inc. v. Mukasey