If our beloved vulture disappears should we be worried?
Reddit's warrant canary shuffles off this mortal coil
It appears that Reddit has been the recipient of a National Security Letter, after the warrant canary it has published in its annual transparency reports has disappeared. A warrant canary is a technique whereby companies can get around the restrictions involved with National Security Letters, which typically bar the recipient …
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Friday 1st April 2016 10:01 GMT David Pollard
Re: re. The picture
Maybe someone has been reading 'Meetings with remarkable men' and been impressed with George Gurdjieff's reputed use of yellow dye to avail himself of canaries for resale. It's all too easy to muddle canaries and canards.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Gurdjieff#Businessman
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Friday 1st April 2016 05:08 GMT dan1980
While the idea of a 'warrant canary' is a good one, is there any reason it can't be updated more regularly?
Having one at all means that you want your users to know so they can act accordingly. And, if that is the case then wouldn't you want your users to know as soon as possible?
Might you not also have several canaries to cover multiple possible NSLs?
Sure, that's a bit more work but might it not be to the site's benefit? As the author says, the secretive nature of NSLs means that, while this could be a very narrow, well-justified request for specific information on a single person, it could also be a wholesale integration of Reddit servers into the NSA's data-gobbling behemoth.
And, while the former may seem more likely to some, when the secrecy is coupled with the known range of the NSA's powers and their proven eagerness to use them in exceptionally broad applications, the latter possibility cannot be discounted.
That being the case, there are those who will now assume that this is the case and as a result may cease using Reddit entirely.
So might it not be better then to maintain multiple 'canaries' - one for specific requests, one for broad scoops and one for the wholesale compromise of the site and its users' data?
Again, that they do this at all shows they want to inform their users of when the government is poking around, and part of that is no doubt to give their users more confidence and trust in the site. A binary NSL/no-NSL flag doesn't seem the best way to do that.
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Friday 1st April 2016 09:18 GMT Doctor Syntax
"Just having a warrant canary in the first place seems to be close already (sad to say)."
Maybe, given that it requires a specific statement. However, an alternative occurred to me as I was typing the comment about the vulture. Why not simply put a picture of a canary in the site's banner. No need to say what it is, people will just get the meaning PDQ. It could be removed instantly but given that its meaning would be implicit it would be difficult to bring about a prosecution. After all it would just be a picture of a canary. The only problem would be that people would confuse it with the twit's bird.
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Friday 1st April 2016 10:05 GMT Anonymous Coward
Just *fill* the vulture canary yellow and serve it from a machine located in a comparatively free and civil society run buy someone with an uncanny ability to sniff out shenanigans and of comparatively free and civil nationality. Scandinavia, Russia, China, Switzerland, Austria, Saudi Arabia... practically anywhere really...
Not gonna happen of course. Dear old Reg has been a fully fawning company house for some time now.
RIP
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Friday 1st April 2016 12:04 GMT Velv
Reddit to be first prosecuted for breaching terms of the letter
Reddit have by removing the canary taken an action which tells everyone that a National Security Letter has been served, and that is likely in breach of the conditions of the letter.
It remains to be tested in court, but Reddit is high profile enough that I can see this being the first to be pushed by the government (I guess it depends on the content of the letter and when the relevant agency is willing to make the details public in court).
While the warrant canary is a nice idea, it's not as neat as people think.
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Friday 1st April 2016 13:42 GMT Dave 32
NSLs and the First Amendment
NSLs violation of the First Amendment are being battled out in court, but the case is still somewhat up in the air:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_security_letter
Plus, we won't know for sure until an appeal reaches the Supreme Court.
Dave
P.S. I'll get my coat; it's the one with the mail order law degree in the pocket.
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Friday 1st April 2016 20:47 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: NSLs and the First Amendment
If it reaches the Supreme Court anytime soon, and they think they have only four votes, they'd be best served to try to delay it until about next year at this time since it will probably take about that long to get back to up nine justices. A 4-4 decision would serve no one since it doesn't set a precedent for lower courts.
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Biting the hand that feeds IT
