EFF, ACLU Fighting Gov't Attempt To Troll Twitter Accounts For Wikileaks Info

from the fed-trolling dept

Wed, Feb 9th 2011 7:10pm — Mike Masnick

At the beginning of January, thanks to Twitter pushing back against a gag order and request from the feds to hand over info of people connected to Wikileaks, it came out publicly that the government was seeking such info. Of course, the government almost certainly sent similar requests to a bunch of other companies that simply rolled over. However, thanks to Twitter's willingness to stand up to the government, it's allowed the folks whose info was sought to fight back, though the initial steps in that fighting back were apparently gagged as well.

Thankfully, part of the gag has been lifted, and we now know that the EFF and the ACLU are challenging the info request and are seeking to have more documents in the case unsealed as well, including the Justice Department's original application for the order -- which should explain the reason for requesting the info. Who knows if the court will grant this, but once again, none of this would even be open for discussion if Twitter had just rolled over and handed the feds the info they demanded.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: info, privacy, wikileaks
Companies: aclu, eff, twitter, wikileaks

9 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Anonymous Coward, 9 Feb 2011 @ 7:12pm

Not surprising to see the wagons circling.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 9 Feb 2011 @ 7:38pm
  
  Re:
  That's right, we have a bunch of wagons with broken wheels that often fall off yet we are facing an oppressive government with a bunch of guns and tanks, yet we aren't going to back down. We will still stand up for what we think is right.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 9 Feb 2011 @ 8:57pm

If they've done nothing wrong...
then they should have nothing to hide. Right, AJ?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
aikanae, 9 Feb 2011 @ 9:27pm

Takes a lot of cajones
After seeing how instrumental the internet - specifically Twitter has been in popular uprisings this past year, it's pretty gutsy to try and squash the same freedom in the US. Their actions (almost) admit they've got somthing to hide.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Curt Bizelli, 9 Feb 2011 @ 11:39pm

Thank You Twitter
Thanks to TWITTER for Standing Up ... We need to stand up against these bullies.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Paul`, 10 Feb 2011 @ 12:22am

Move to Canada.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Shon Gale (profile), 10 Feb 2011 @ 6:18am

Gotta keep HS informed with lots of useless info so they profile you. Now they want to know on your banking data how much rent or mortgage do you pay. Even though it has nothing to do with my bank account. Those are new rules in January. Now they can profile the poor easily because they just do a search at all banks on how much you pay for your housing and then target the poor people.
You must be doing something wrong because you don't pay much for lodging.
When I refused to tell the bank how much I paid they told me HS demands and you can't put in a change of address without it. HS sucks. You hear that Napolitano? You suck!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 10 Feb 2011 @ 9:27am

"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross."

And they say reading the future is pseudo-science woo-woo
/sarcasm
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
A Dan (profile), 11 Feb 2011 @ 10:18am

Trolling Twitter accounts?
Should it be "Trawling" in the title like going on a fishing expedition with a dragnet? Because I don't see how their intent is to troll.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]