SACRAMENTO — Digital liberties group Electronic Frontier Foundation sued the U.S. Department of Justice Tuesday for documents that may shed light on how many times—if ever—the federal government has sought a secret court order forcing companies to decrypt consumers’ information.
The Freedom of Information Act complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, also seeks copies of “significant” opinions issued by the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Court since its inception in 1978. That request could help determine the reach of the USA Freedom Act, 2015 legislation that placed new restrictions and transparency requirements on the government’s data-collection practices.
