14 DAY TRIAL // Yahoo is fighting back against government surveillance, or at least for the chance to show that it didn't just roll over and comply when the government came asking for user data.
Yahoo has filed a request with the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court this week asking it for approval to disclose an argument it made before the same court in 2008.
In the argument, the company tried to defend itself against the NSA's request for user data, to which it "objected strenuously." It lost the battle in 2008, quite obviously, but it at least wants to be able to show that it didn't cooperate willingly.
"Release of this court's decision and the parties' briefing is necessary to inform the growing public debate about how this court considers and examines the government's use of directives," Yahoo wrote in the filling. "Courts have long recognised the public has a right to access court records."
The company's defeat in court was then used to persuade other tech companies to cooperate voluntarily without the need to start file a lawsuit against each of them.
As with most of the secret court's dealings, the 2008 lawsuit, as well as everything about, it is classified. Until last month, Yahoo wasn't even able to confirm that it had been involved in such a lawsuit.
"Disclosure of the directives and the briefs in this case would also allow Yahoo to demonstrate that it objected strenuously to the directives that are now the subject of debate, and objected at every stage of the proceedings, but that theses objections were overruled and its request for stay was denied," the company also said in the filling.
Documents from whistleblower Edward Snowden indicated that several major companies had been collaborating with the government and, he claimed, had been providing direct access to their servers. Those companies have been trying to get the government to allow them to defend themselves, which is hard, since so much about the whole deal is secret.