Transparency fail.

• Author: Mangu-Ward, Katherine
• Position: Artifact - Guidelines on accessing text messages - Brief article

AFTER THE COURTS laid out the conditions in which the government can compel email providers to turn over users' private messages, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) wondered if the FBI was applying similar guidelines to text messages. So the group filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Justice Department.

In April the organization received an answer that complied with the letter of the law but was almost comically unhelpful. The file contained a memo header, "Guidance for the Minimization of Text Messages over Dual-Function Cellular Telephones," followed by 15 pages that were completely blacked out. The document "does not even show the...