Reddit Has Subtly Said That The Government Secretly Requested User Data Last Year

Reddit Has Subtly Said That The Government Secretly Requested User Data Last Year

Every year, Reddit publishes a transparency report detailing how many requests for information it received, along with more mundane things like copyright takedowns. What Reddit can’t say, by law, is if it’s been sent any US National Security Letters, AKA secret subpoenas. Nod nod wink wink.

Reddit can’t outright say if it has received any NSLs, but it can not say that it hasn’t received any NSLs. Confused? It’s simple: in the 2014 transparency report, Reddit included the following paragraph:

Reddit Has Subtly Said That The Government Secretly Requested User Data Last Year

In the 2015 transparency report, no such paragraph existed. The statement is known as a “warrant canary” — its absence implies rather heavily that Reddit has received a NSL since last year. Luckily, the distinction hasn’t escaped Reddit’s crack team of amateur sleuths, as evidenced by the top comment on the transparency report.

Reddit Has Subtly Said That The Government Secretly Requested User Data Last Year

Stay suspicious, Redditors.

[Reddit]


The Cheapest NBN 50 Plans

It’s the most popular NBN speed in Australia for a reason. Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Gizmodo, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.