Anonymous response to Twitter subpoena

http://www.anonnews.org/?p=press&a=item&i=180

Anonymous response to Twitter subpoena


Below is the statement/open letter from Anonymous, on the news that Twitter received a subpoena from the American government to release information on Wikileaks' accounts.

To Twitter

To Whom It May Concern


Society finds itself at a crossroads. In our increasingly connected world, many seem to think that our constitutional rights are fit for reevaluation. As was demonstrated by Jessica Yellin's performance on CNN, even some journalists seem to think that is now a crime to publish confidential information, ignorant not only of the important role that documents such as the Pentagon Papers have had in shaping modern government, but also of the First Amendment.

The Department of Justice's subpoena (http://goo.gl/L1sCp) is but the latest in a series of assaults on our free society. The salient point is that Twitter was not used as a platform to distribute confidential information, nor was it used to broadcase hateful messages. The only crime that the users of the accounts named committed was to voice their opinion. For the DOJ to seek access to the personal details, network addresses, and session information of those users is not just unconstitutional, but quite frankly terrifying.

Twitter has revolutionized the way that people communicate, and has been celebrated as an agent of change. What type of message will it send if you were to divulge the personal details of people who have not commited any crime but speak their mind, to a government who fail to understand the zeitgeist. If you bow to these demands, you will be setting a dangerous precedent, seriously impacting the future of network neutrality. You can rest assured that your users will not forget if you were to give in now.

Although Twitter and Anonymous have had our grievances in the past, we (AnonOps) pledge to fully support your organisation if you will choose to fight this subpoena.

Yours Faithfully

Anonymous
We do not forgive. We do not forget.

c/o: AnonOps.ru
To Department of Justice

To Whom It May Concern

We are regretful of your actions to attempt to retrieve information from Twitter about the account belonging to "Wikileaks", as by doing so you are attempting to remove the anonymity of the poster and by extension, their right to speech. We are confused as to why you have brought such a subpoena against Twitter, as there is little information you will gain from these details, leaving comments and observations on the world are to our understanding; not a criminal offence

Is this not the same type of action that you, DOJ, find reprehensible in other countries? How do you justify the same action in the US? No crime has been committed yet you assume that the populace at large will just "roll over" as always and allow this intrusion.

The time has come for the people of the world to take an active part in governing their own lives and freedoms. The world must become aware that its freedoms are in jeopardy. Today, Twitter, tomorrow, what? Recent events have shown that people are becoming tired of being treated this way. Why push an unwinnable confrontation when working for the same goal is always more productive (learn from history).

The US Government expressed concern over the Tunisian Government's actions when they attacked protesters' Facebook accounts. Is there a difference here? They attack and you use the "law" (loosely defined) to in essence do the same thing. What's the possible difference? Your motives are the same.

Yours Faithfully

Anonymous
We do not forgive. We do not forget.

c/o: AnonOps.ru
http://www.anonops.ru/?id=anonymous-retwitter-subpoena




Discussion on irc://irc.anonops.net/wikileaks

or webirc: http://irc.lc/AnonOps/Wikileaks

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[patpoland2004]

unfortunatly i used to spend my life looking for reasons why 9/11 happened, why the oil spill doesnt get any recognition anymore, why we havent gone to the moon in over 30 years, why the us spends more on the war on drugs than it would cost to put everyone we put in jail in rehab or better yet education. I used to spend my days looking for names, senators, corporate leaders who have wallets open to the right people to pass the right laws that screw the wrong people we live in a sad time i feel

[mmxanonymous]

@patpoland2004 i totally agree. politically i don't think we are very far apart. the anonymity part of anonymous is just to protect our loved ones and the people that help us. using anonymity keeps people from being singled out and used as scapegoats. when you speak out like we have, people who we are protesting against would try to dig in to our past to distract form the message. this way the can only suppress what we say. cause they cant attack us personally

[patpoland2004]

@mmxanonymous i wish anonymous was large enough to be rallied-- round the world within a week, if the world stops for just a second the poeple will realize that the power we give to the higher powers is just an illusion, and the money we print is just an illusion; but on the flip side what we do for our community (im a very community based person with loyalties) and how we interact with others is how i value life. we have been stuck for the past 10-15 years in a technological media illusion

[mmxanonymous]

@patpoland2004 once again i totally agree. thanks for posting such an insightful comment. i wish more people felt like you do.

[NotSoOldHippy]

The Bush/Obama terrorist regime thinks they can silence Democracy.

[XShadowOfFateX]

America was discovered by terrorists for terrorists! and thats the real truth!!

[xadam2dudex]

@KSBaneTek I see by ur comment u want protection for ur speech as a hater

[xadam2dudex]

Bush set up the police state and the elite are using Obama to continue the police state construction..take down the DOJ system until they give up their prosecution..after all they haven't prosecuted anyone of the criminals that have done the destruction of the bill of rights and the economy so what good is the DOJ ?

[KSBaneTek]

Gay hackers that can't for into normal society and BTW HATE SPEECH is what needs to be protected. That's what our founding fathers wanted. You don't need to protect friendly speech, there's no need. It was offensive speech that had to be protected

[mmxanonymous]

@patpoland2004 ok i understand that and i apologize for venting back on you. feel free to post any problems you have with anonymous here if you like, all comments are welcome. i just would rather have people be angry with us for some thing we really did do :)