Fourth Circuit narrows government request for journalists’ LinkedIn records

The Fourth Circuit attempted to strike a balance between the need to protect national security and the need to protect the free press. RICHMOND, Va. (CN) — The Fourth Circuit instructed a lower court Tuesday to narrow the amount of journalists’ records LinkedIn must turn over for an investigation. ​The government sought and received a pair of orders to aid an investigation into the leaking of highly confidential military information to an unnamed news outlet. ​A lower court first granted the government’s request for a sweeping disclosure order under the Stored Communications Act requiring LinkedIn to produce records of journalists’ messages with confidential sources. The government sought journalists’ metadata records from an 18-month period, including their conversations with sources. ​The lower court also granted a secrecy order that prohibited LinkedIn from telling its users about the disclosure for one year. U.S. Circuit Judge Harvie Wilkinson, a Ronald Reagan appointee, ruled that the orders were too broad. ​”It is part of the audacity of the American project to believe that collective security can coexist with individual freedom,” Wilkinson said. “While we respect the government’s interest in gathering information potentially relevant to the leak, neither the Stored Communications Act nor the Constitution
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