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Twitter Sues US Government Over Attempt To Unmask Anti-Trump Account (theverge.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the anonymous-coward dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: According to Twitter's suit, filed today in Northern California District Court, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has attempted to use a "limited-purpose investigatory tool" to unmask the owner of the Twitter account "@ALT_USCIS." The account, one of several "alt" or "rogue" government accounts that appeared in the wake of Trump's ascent to the presidency, was used "to express public criticism of the Department and the current Administration," according to Twitter's complaint. In the suit, Twitter writes that @ALT_USCIS has purported to be a dissenting member of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. On March 14, Twitter received a summons from Customs requesting records that could reveal the identity of the account's operator, including IP logs and any associated phone number or mailing address. In addition to the Department of Homeland Security and its subagency, the lawsuit names four individuals as defendants: DHS secretary John Kelly, acting CBP commissioner Kevin McAleenan, and special agents Stephen P. Caruso and Adam Hoffman, who issued and served the order itself.

9 of 248 comments (clear)

  1. HAHAHAHA, Free Speech! by jimmifett · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It seems that only now twitter is concerned about the free speech of it's users.

    Stop, this is too much. I can't take it anymore, I'm going to have liquids shoot out my nose from laughter.

    1. Re:HAHAHAHA, Free Speech! by JoeyRox · · Score: 5, Insightful

      As a private corporation, Twitter is allowed to decide what its users are allowed to post on its service. As a public entity the government is not.

    2. Re: HAHAHAHA, Free Speech! by negRo_slim · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yeah they wear their politics on their sleeve. Personally I'm not OK with purportedly neutral global communications platforms pushing such a political agenda. It's their right but people should be very wary of engaging in business with such a company.

      --
      On the Oregon Cost born and raised, On the beach is where I spent most of my days
    3. Re:HAHAHAHA, Free Speech! by jimmifett · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Quite the opposite, i'm very much pro-free speech. Also not alt-right (aka, leftists that are fed up with left authoritarianism).

      I find it hilarious that twitter purports itself to be a platform of free speech when that is the absolute last thing they are with their shadow bans, zero transparency or ability to address bans, etc.

      They can run their crap company into the ground however they choose, but for them to claim they are protecting the free speech of their users, that is just too much to take seriously.

    4. Re: HAHAHAHA, Free Speech! by mjwx · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yeah they wear their politics on their sleeve. Personally I'm not OK with purportedly neutral global communications platforms pushing such a political agenda. It's their right but people should be very wary of engaging in business with such a company.

      Well start your own then.

      If you dont like Twitter, dont use them. Even by the most European of Euro standards, Twitter is still a private organisation, not a public utility and not subject to carrier regulations.

      Realistically, I'd be more concerned that the government is trying to force Twitter to reveal the name of someone who is merely making fun of the government. We're not talking about threats or attacks, we're talking about parody here.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
  2. shocked! by LetterRip · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm shocked! Shocked to see the Trump administration abusing criminal investigative tools for political purposes.

    1. Re:shocked! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Seriously, it's a crime for federal employees to post to Twitter while on the clock?

      Someone should tell the president.

    2. Re:shocked! by squiggleslash · · Score: 1, Insightful

      It's not a crime for a government employee to post to Twitter while working. If it were, Trump would have been impeached multiple times by now.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    3. Re:shocked! by Salgak1 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It is a crime to release official information without permission, And even more of a crime if it's sensitive or classified. There's this category of "For Official Use Only". . .