[Infowarrior] - Twitter sues USG over gag rules

[Richard Forno]

Twitter sues US government over user data request gag rules

Social network says current government restrictions on transparency are preventing tech companies from being fully honest with the public.

	• by Seth Rosenblatt
	• October 7, 2014 6:07 PM PDT

http://www.cnet.com/news/twitter-sues-us-government-over-user-data-request-gag-rules/


Twitter is suing the US government in federal court to loosen restrictions that prevent full disclosure of government demands for Twitter user data.

The suit, filed by the San Francisco-based social networking company in the US District Court of Northern California, says that US government prohibitions on sharing the nature of some of its demands for Twitter user data violate the First Amendment's free speech clause (PDF). Twitter legal counsel Ben Lee said in a blog post that the firm believes that current government restrictions on transparency are preventing tech companies from being fully honest with the public.

"It's our belief that we are entitled under the First Amendment to respond to our users' concerns and to the statements of US government officials by providing information about the scope of US government surveillance -- including what types of legal process have not been received," Lee said. "We should be free to do this in a meaningful way, rather than in broad, inexact ranges."

Lee said that currently government restrictions "prohibit and even criminalize" the company from discussing the mere number of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and National Security Letter court orders its received -- "even if that number is zero." FISA and NSL court orders for user data play a key role in the government's surveillance apparatus, as revealed in documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

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