Details about the government’s failed effort to wiretap encrypted calls made over Facebook’s Messenger app must remain secret, a federal court judge ruled.
U.S. Chief District Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill, ruling from federal court in Fresno, California, issued Monday a five-page order denying motions filed by groups seeking access to sealed documents involving an unsuccessful bid quietly mounted by the Justice Department last year to eavesdrop on Facebook Messenger calls related to an investigation of the MS-13 criminal gang.
“The materials at issue in this case concern techniques that, if disclosed publicly, would compromise law enforcement efforts in many, if not all, future wiretap investigations,” wrote Judge O’Neill, an appointee of former President George W. Bush.
The judge’s order addressed separate but similar motions to unseal files last year after Reuters first reported the Justice Department sought to force Facebook to help investigators wiretap certain calls conducted over the social network’s Messenger app.