FBI Surveillance: You might Sue

This dispute began when Congress passed the FISA  Amendments Act in support of the Bush administration to engage in warrant-less wiretaps because of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) filed a Freedom of information act which helped them learn more about how the government was using their new surveillance powers. From this they received hundreds of heavily redacted documents in November of last year.

These documents proved to the ACLU that the government had violated several restrictions and is seeking out more info than the documents can provide.
 

The ACLU: "Two weeks ago, as part of our FOIA lawsuit over those documents, the government gave us several declarations attempting to justify the redaction of the documents. We've been combing through the documents and recently came across this unexpectedly honest explanation from the FBI of why the government doesn't want us to know which "electronic communication service providers" participate in its dragnet surveillance program."

From the Documents:

"Specifically, these businesses would be substantially harmed if their customers knew that they were furnishing information to the FBI. The stigma of working with the FBI would cause customers to cancel the companies' services and file civil actions to prevent further disclosure of subscriber information."
 

This text implies that the government doesn't want us to know that they are engaging in the gathering of communication data with the voluntary assistance of service providers and without court supervision or telling the customers.

The ACLU article states that "the government doesn't want you to know whether your internet or phone company is cooperating with its dragnet surveillance program because you might get upset and file lawsuits asserting your constitutional rights. Would it be such a bad thing if a court were to consider the constitutionality of the most sweeping surveillance program ever enacted by Congress?"