◆ SpookStack

SUGGESTED FORM LETTER TO NSL RECIPIENT ALL INFORPIATIDN CONTAINED I-[EREILI I3 UNCLASSIFIED [Name and address of NSL recipient] -nrmImam-movsrssrwxmmuonwm W 1073946 RB: Cost Reimbursement for National Security Letter Invoice No: if relevant! Invoice Dated: if relevant! Dear POC!, This letter references the above invoice directed to this office in which you request payment for producing records to the FBI in response to am§ational Security Letter NSL! issued on [Date of Issuance]. The federal statute under which the NSL to your company was issued,[Electronic Comunications Privacy Act ECPA!, 18 U.S.C. § 2709, or Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1681v], does not authorize cost reimbursement. [FOR ECPA: While certain other methods of legal process are subject to cost reimbursement under ECPA, Section 2?06, the enumerated list of provisions does not include Section 2709.] [For FCRA: While certain other methods of legal process are subject to cost reimbursement under FCRA, including Section l681u, there is no such comparable provision for cost reimbursement for Section 168lv.] Therefore, absent a specific provision providing for cost reimbursement, no entity or person is entitled to reimbursement for complying with federal legal process. Hprtado_viiQnited_§tates, 410 U.S. 578
973!. Therefore, it is the FBI's position that cost reimbursement for NSL compliance is not specifically authorized under {ECPA Section 2709 or FCRA Section 1681v]. [TO BE USED FOR RECIPIENTS WHO HANE BEEN REIMBURSED IN THE PAST: We recognize that in the past, your company may have been reimbursed for compliance with NSLs. However, the FBI has reevaluated its position in that regard and determined that in order to assure fair and equal treatment of all NSL recipients, a uniform posture is required as to the appropriateness of reimbursing recipients of NSLs for their compliance in the absence of statutory authorization for such reimbursement. The FBI has decided that payment is not appropriate in these circumstances.]