07 April 2017

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Twitter sues US Administration to protect the identity of Users who criticize

Read Full 25 pages complaint Twitter sues US Administration to protect the identity of Users who criticize

Twitter Inc. sued the Trump administration to bar it from forcing the company to identify a user who has tweeted criticisms of the Homeland Security Department.

The legal complaint is 25 pages the company says in the lawsuit filed Thursday in San Francisco federal court that the government failed to demonstrate that users have committed a crime to prompt the release of their names.

The case is Twitter Inc. v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 17-01916, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco)

In its Complaint Twitter said following, “This is an action to prevent the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”), and the individual Defendants from unlawfully abusing a limited-purpose investigatory tool to try to unmask the real identity of one or more persons who have been using Twitter’s social media platform, and specifically a Twitter account named @ALT_USCIS, to express public criticism of the Department and the current Administration. The rights of free speech afforded Twitter’s users and Twitter itself under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution include a right to disseminate such anonymous or pseudonymous political speech. In these circumstances, Defendants may not compel Twitter to disclose information regarding the real identities of these users without first demonstrating that some criminal or civil offense has been committed, that unmasking the users’ identity is the least restrictive means for investigating that offense, that the demand for this information is not motivated by a desire to suppress free speech, and that the interests of pursuing that investigation outweigh the important First Amendment rights of Twitter and its users. But Defendants have not come close to making any of those showings. And even if Defendants could otherwise demonstrate an appropriate basis for impairing the First Amendment interests of Twitter and its users, they certainly may not do so using the particular investigatory tool employed here—which Congress authorized solely to ensure compliance with federal laws concerning imported merchandise—because it is apparent that whatever investigation Defendants are conducting here does not pertain to imported merchandise.”

Read Full 25 pages Twitter Complaint filed against US DHS and CBP


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Friday, April 7, 2017

Tags – Twitter USA Privacy Sue Identity