<nettime> Judge Rules Against Privacy and Free Speech in Twitter/WikiLeaks Case

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Judge Rules Against Privacy and Free Speech in Twitter/WikiLeaks Case

November 10, 2011

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A federal judge in Virginia ruled today that the 
government can collect the private records of three Twitter users as 
part of its investigation related to WikiLeaks. The court also refused 
to unseal or publicly list all orders and other court documents relating 
to the parties in the case, including orders that may have been sent to 
other companies besides Twitter.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier 
Foundation represent Birgitta Jonsdottir, an Icelandic parliamentarian 
and one of the Twitter users whose records were sought by the government.

“Internet users don’t automatically give up their rights to privacy and 
free speech when they use services like Twitter,” said Aden Fine, staff 
attorney for the ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project. “The 
government shouldn’t be able to get this kind of private information 
without a warrant, and they certainly shouldn’t be able to do so in 
secret. An open court system is a fundamental part of our democracy, and 
the very existence of court documents should not be hidden from the public.”

Today’s decision was an appeal of rulings made by a magistrate judge.

"With this decision, the court is telling all users of online tools 
hosted in the U.S. that the U.S. government will have secret access to 
their data,” said Jonsdottir. "People around the world will take note, 
and since they can easily move their data to companies who host it in 
locations that better protect their privacy than the U.S. does, I expect 
that many will do so. I am very disappointed in today's ruling because 
it is a huge backward step for the United States’ legacy of freedom of 
expression and the right to privacy."

Today’s ruling and other information about the case are available online 
at:

http://www.aclu.org/free-speech/twitter-wikileaks-court-order



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