On July 17, the Ninth Circuit overruled a constitutional challenge to the FBI's use of national security letters ("NSLs") that bar service providers from telling users about government requests for their data, ruling that the disclosure restrictions do not violate the First Amendment. The Ninth Circuit concluded that the nondisclosure agreement contained within NSLs is a content-based restriction on speech that is both subject to and withstands strict scrutiny and therefore did not violate the Constitution.

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