Technology website Gizmodo.com said it will publish the Facebook internal documents leaked by whistleblower Frances Haugen, a former product manager for the company.

The site, which said it is the first news outlet to commit to publishing the internal research and other documents said it got them from a member of Congress — they were leaked to members of the Senate Commerce Committee.

It describes the documents as “stacks of documents containing thousands of confidential memos, chat logs and a veritable library of hidden research.”

Also: Sen. Markey: Facebook‘s Harmful Ad Practices Continue

“We believe there’s a strong public need in making as many of the documents public as possible, as quickly as possible,” Gizmodo said. “To that end, we’ve partnered with a small group of independent monitors, who are joining us to establish guidelines for an accountable review of the documents prior to publication.” 

Those monitors are from New York University, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Columbia University, Marquette University and the American Civil Liberties Union, among other organizations.

Also: Haugen Hearing Branded Big Tech's Big Tobacco Moment

The documents will be released in batches, with the first batch coming “as soon as possible,” Gizmodo said. The first tranche of documents will likely be primarily ones that require the least amount of vetting by its experts, given its goal of “minimiz[ing] any costs to individuals’ privacy or the furtherance of other harms while ensuring the responsible disclosure of the greatest amount of information in the public interest,” the site said.

The leak and Haugen’s testimony have led to more calls for regulating Big Tech and an investigation by state attorneys general. ■

The Justice Department said Monday (July 19) that it has formally changed its policy to restrict the use of “compulsory processes” — such as subpoenas — to get information or records from members of the press on activities in the course of doing their jobs and in the “scope” of newsgathering.

The policy, effective immediately, was announced in a memo to department staff leadership by Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Garland has asked a deputy attorney general to look into codifying the policy into department regulations to ensure the “durability” of the change, and added that he supports legislation that would protect the news media.

The Justice Department had already announced that it would not be issuing subpoenas for reporters' records in leak investigations.

The changes in policy followed a report in The New York Times that not only was the Biden White House continuing the pursuit of records from Times reporters, a holdover from a Trump-era investigation, but that it had issued a gag order preventing the publisher’s executives from talking about the matter, even to its own staff.

CNN also reported that the Trump administration had obtained phone records and email messages from the network’s correspondents as part of leak investigations.

Citing a host of stories, many by targets of the President's attacks on the mainstream media, a majority (Republican) staff report out of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee (cited in a story by Politico) has recommended that law enforcement thoroughly investigate leaks of "potentially sensitive" government material that are coming at an "alarming rate."

According to the report, the Trump Administration has seen on average a leak a day--125 stories based on leaks--with the majority (78) related to the probe into Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election.

The majority report cited 18 different news outlets sourcing "every possible permutation" of anonymous current and former government officials, including intelligence officials.

The report did not suggest every leak should result in criminal prosecution, but said it was clear that the "cascade" of leaks was causing "real harm."

The study looked at leaks from Jan. 20, when the new Administration came in, to May 25, and concluded that during that time there were 62 leaks of information related to national security versus eight such leaks in the first 126 days of the Obama Administration and nine in the same period of the George W. Bush Administration.

The report includes a list of the leaked stories and the names of the outlets and reporters. The majority (about two thirds) are from the New York Times, Washington Post and CNN, all of which have been prime targets for President Donald Trump's broad-brush attack on the news media as failing, biased, and enemies of the American People.

NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox also had at least one story in the leak-a-thon addendum to the letter.

The Committee to Protect Journalists, which has branded the Administration attacks an unprecedented threat to press freedom, was troubled by the reports identification of reporters and the suggestion of a widespread investigation.

"The naming of more than a hundred journalists accused of harming national security seems intended to have a chilling effect on the press and is the type of measure that we see more often in authoritarian countries,” said CPJ senior researcher for the U.S., Alexandra Ellerbeck. “The free press and national security are not opposing interests: the American people are best served when a vigorous media holds the government to account.”

President Donald Trump is on a mission to plug leaks in his administration, calling for the Justice Department to investigate them.

The administration has been leaking like a veritable sieve, with a drumbeat of stories citing unnamed sources in print and on the air about investigations into Russian connections, conflicts of interest, high-profile firings and the general turmoil in the White House.

Trump released a statement on Thursday (May 25) after British intelligence about the Manchester bombing was leaked, which British Prime Minister Theresa May was reportedly blaming on the U.S. administration.

"The alleged leaks coming out of government agencies are deeply troubling," he said in the statement .

"These leaks have been going on for a long time, and my administration will get to the bottom of this, " he said, adding, "The leaks of sensitive information pose a grave threat to our national security."

To that end, Trump said, "I am asking the Department of Justice and other relevant agencies to launch a complete review of this matter, and if appropriate, the culprit should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

There have been reports that the president would also like to be able to punish journalists for publishing leaks of classified info.

"There is no relationship we cherish more than the special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom," he said.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he was already on the case. “I share the president's deep concern and talked to Home Secretary Rudd yesterday about this matter," Sessions said in a statement e-mailed to Multichannel/B&C. "These leaks cannot be tolerated and we will make every effort to put an end to it. We have already initiated appropriate steps to address these rampant leaks that undermine our national security.”

Senate Commerce Committee chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) took to the Senate floor Thursday (July 7) to criticize the FCC and its chairman over alleged disclosure of nonpublic information. 

In a lengthy speech, Thune said independent agencies need to be accountable to the people but that in recent years the FCC has been behaving more like a de facto arm of the executive branch "wholly subservient to the President" than an independent agency reporting to Congress. President Obama has publicly pressed for Title II reclassification and "unlocking" the set-top box, both FCC hot topics.

Thune also talked about the recent partisanship at the agency, which he attributed to "an institution that has seized regulatory power while simultaneously shutting down bipartisan dialog and compromise."

As examples he cited the FCC's Lifeline reform, "backward looking" set-top box proposal, "power grab of stunning proportions" of new Title II-based net-neutrality rules, broadband privacy "power grab" and other actions, which he said had all been characterized by a lack of respect for the limits of the FCC's authority as delegated by Congress.

He called that a downward trajectory for the agency and blamed FCC chairman Tom Wheeler.

Thune said Wheeler had "embraced" partisanship over compromise. He also said the chairman exercises his powers with neither humility nor a light touch. Thune particularly took aim at what he suggested was selectively leaking nonpublic information, counter to FCC rules.

Thune cited the FCC's March 31 open meeting to illustrate selective leaks in service of his general "power grab" theme. That was the FCC's vote on Lifeline reform, which included the collapse of a compromise between the two Republican commissioners and Democrat Mignon Clyburn.

The compromise was reported by various outlets, including Multichannel News, prior to the delayed meeting start. It ultimately fell through over Clyburn's decision that she could not support a cap on the Lifeline subsidy.

Thune said Wheeler was trying to exempt himself from the rule preventing disclosure of nonpublic information by selectively leaking information about the compromise. Thune said the result of the leak was that "the story spurred outside political pressure against the emerging bipartisan compromise, which subsequently fell apart" to be replaced by a party-line vote on the chairman's proposal, which did not have the cap Republicans favored.

The chairman’s office had no comment, but Wheeler has explained his position in a letter to Thune.

The senator said that, when pressed, the chairman would not say whether he had authorized the leak. Thune said Wheeler did answer that he was "empowered to do anything that streamlines the FCC's work." Thune called that a "specious" attempt to exempt the chairman from a clear FCC rule.

The senator said Wheeler was using the rule against disclosure of nonpublic information as both a shield and a sword, saying he was free to share such information, but suggesting Republican Ajit Pai had actually done so in violation of the rule.

The FCC Inspector General is currently investigating the leak, and Thune said he is looking forward to the findings.