In Wikileaks case, US court rules Twitter data is not protected, but government orders are

Big blow to online privacy today, and another win in the US government's war on Wikileaks. A US District Court ruled that private info on Twitter accounts of three people related to Wikileaks must be turned over to federal demands. And, those three people have no right to demand that secret government orders for private data be made public. CNet has a related story, also. The EFF has issued a statement here.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) represent Icelandic parliamentarian Birgitta Jonsdottir in this case. Jonsdottir has appealed an earlier ruling with fellow Twitter users Jacob Appelbaum and Rop Gonggrijp.
"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."

Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

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CastanhasDoPara

Standards are great (because there are so many to choose from). So double standards must be twice as good, right?

Or what I really mean is, screw you US Gov’t.
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  No matter what we agree F.T.Government, and that is why we had featured your comment at the Pewlpit.
zuludaddy

[shudder]
Anahata

This is one of the defining traits of fascism – government gets secrecy; citizens do not. In a free society, it’s the other way around.
the_engineer

Privacy is dead. Long live Privacy!
http://twitter.com/mikeestee Mike Estee

America Prevails.
- That_Anonymous_Coward
  
  Strength through Unity.
  Unity through Strength.
ffabian

No need to get your knickers in a twist – she’s no US citizen.
http://twitter.com/icanhazsake Ninja

Well, in a sense the terrorism won with the 9/11 thing. They turned the US into a police state leading their citizen to some sort of home imprisonment and to near bankruptcy due to the moronic expenditures with a failed war on terrorism (which includes two failed physical wars).

This is just another blow in the agonizing US Constitution. The Founding Fathers would be ashamed.
http://twitter.com/JesticRelleno Jestic Majestic

Why has there not been a platform for US citizens to object to this?
FearUncertaintyDoubt

Step 1: Win case permitting secret warrantless access to Twitter info
Step 2: Wait for Twitter to erupt in protest of ruling
Step 3: Round up Twitter info of protesters
Step 4: Update terrorist watch list
petertrepan

No problem, you can petition the government online now. They probably just don’t know if people enjoy privacy or if they’d like to know why government does what it does. A few thousand signatures should clear up the confusion.