[EL] Trump admin seeks to unmask anonymous critic on Twitter

[Sean Parnell]

Given the recent discussions of forced disclosure on the list, I thought this might be of interest to the group: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/04/06/the-government-is-demanding-to-know-who-this-trump-critic-is-twitter-is-suing-to-keep-it-a-secret/?hpid=hp_rhp-more-top-stories_no-name%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.38d9ca401adf#comments

The government is demanding to know who this Trump critic is. Twitter is suing to keep it a secret.

Twitter filed a lawsuit Thursday to block an order from the Department of Homeland Security that seeks to reveal the user of an account who has been critical of the Trump administration's immigration policies.

Tweets from the account -- @ALT_uscis -- indicate that it is run by someone who is an employee of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services division of Homeland Security.

Free speech advocates said the DHS order appeared to be the first time the government has attempted to use its powers to expose an anonymous critic -- a development that, if successful, would have a "grave chilling effect on the speech of that account" as well as other accounts critical of the U.S. government, Twitter said...
Best,

Sean Parnell
Vice President for Public Policy, The Philanthropy Roundtable
1120 20th Street NW, Suite 550 South
Washington, DC  20036
(202) 600-7883 (direct)
(571) 289-1374 (mobile)
sparnell at philanthropyroundtable.org

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