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.”