We don't like to make political statements too often here at DLS. It just seems a lot less complicated to fight over software, or whether or not something is Web 2.0, or pirates and ninjas. Every once in a while, though, something comes up that's just a little too out of line not to mention.

Wired reports that back in November, the FBI paid a visit to The Internet Archive and served founder Brewster Kahle with a National Security Letter. The NSL (.pdf link, be warned) is a funny sort of document. It is a subpoena that can be issued without a judge's watchful eye. It usually comes with an order to not tell anyone that the person in question has received it, excepting, of course, their lawyer. So Kahle couldn't tell board members, or his staff, or his teddy bear without legal repercussions.

NSLs aren't really new, but they've blossomed since the USA Patriot Act was enacted. According to Wired, though the FBI guidelines don't encourage frequent use, Congressional audits and the FBI itself reveal that it is likely that hundreds of thousands have been issued in the past seven years. It's likely, because, you know, the FBI doesn't actually seem to track how many they've used. Oh, whoops.

The other dimension to this drama is that the Internet Archive is more of a library than an ISP/communications provider. It seems, in light of that, that the NSL used was actually not the proper document to request the sort of things it was requesting from that institution. Whoops again.

This week, the government and The Internet Archive reached a settlement in regards to the NSL issue. The issued NSL is officially off the table. The Internet Archive can't say anything about what the information was that got the FBI so riled up in the first place.

Seeing that the Internet Archive archives public information, that anonymous browsing is allowed, and all that's required to sign up for an account is an email address, username and password (Kahle says IP addresses aren't logged) it doesn't seem as though the FBI will really find much helpful information. They will find a whole lot of Grateful Dead recordings, if that's any consolation.

[via LISNews via Wired]