Reddit kills off its warrant canary as users come under scrutiny of spooks

Social networking forum reddit has killed off its “warning canary” in a signal it has received a secret government surveillance request. The company took down a key paragraph from its site in a gesture widely interpreted as a sign it was told to hand over customer data to the U.S. government. It is not allowed to say outright it has received the demand but has skirted the law by including the paragraph saying it has not done so. Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, aka spez, sidestepped a direct response, saying: “I’ve been advised not to say anything one way or the other.”

Even with the canaries, we’re treading a fine line. The whole thing is icky

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman

The demand for data comes under so-called national security letters, which have been a law enforcement tool since the 1970s. Their frequency expanded dramatically under the Patriot Act passed shortly after the September 11 attacks much to the annoyance of internet companies and freedom of speech campaigners. Companies cannot even reveal exactly how many requests for data they receive - having to categorise it into bands of 1,000. Speculation over Reddit followed the publication of its annual transparency report which did not contain the canary warning.

reddit canary