Twitter Suing FBI And DOJ, Government Claims It Is ‘Protecting National Security’

Twitter is suing the FBI and the Department of Justice so it can release transparent information about the government’s monitoring of Twitter users’ activities.

The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday in a California federal court for Twitter to publish its full “transparency report” documenting government requests for specific user information, according to The Associated Press. Last July, Twitter published a report, but could not include the number of national security requests it received because internet companies are not allowed to provide that specific information.

As reported in an earlier Inquisitr article, Twitter stated through a blog post that it believes the First Amendment entitles it to “respond to our users’ concerns and to the statements of U.S. government officials by providing information about the scope of U.S. government surveillance.”

According to The Telegraph, the United States government has long been accessing phone network and internet traffic to keep an eye on suspected terrorists and criminals. Recently, the FBI has asked for cooperation from technology companies, including Google, Skype, and Twitter, to provide information such as photographs, video chats, and emails.

Many of the companies which are asked for this type of sensitive information only want to give the information if there is a court order involved in the request. Twitter wants to keep its users informed of requests from the government.

The Associated Press reported that Yahoo was asked for information about its users, and were threatened with a $250,000 daily fine if the company did not give the government the information it was demanding. A sealed lawsuit and later appeal were unsuccessful after a judge ordered some information about the court challenge to be released.

Ben Lee, Twitter’s vice president of legal, wrote in a blog post that Twitter has been unfairly kept from providing its users with information.

“Our ability to speak has been restricted by laws that prohibit and even criminalize a service provider like us from disclosing the exact number of national security letters (‘NSLs’) and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (‘FISA’) court orders received – even if that number is zero.”

Department of Justice spokesperson Emily Pierce said the agency has worked with large internet companies, such as Google, Yahoo, and Facebook, in the past in order “to allow them to provide broad information on government requests while also protecting national security.”

Twitter wants to be able to explain what types of information the government has requested to its users.

Jameel Jaffer, deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement he hoped other internet companies will follow Twitter’s actions.

“We hope that other technology companies will now follow Twitter’s lead. Technology companies have an obligation to protect their customers’ sensitive information against overboard government surveillance, and to be candid with their customers about how their information is being used and shared.”

The FBI has referred its requests for a comment about the lawsuit with Twitter to the Justice Department’s response.

[Image via The Telegraph]