TWITTER SUES FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

TWITTER SUES FEDERAL GOVERNMENT Tech companies have complained about federal government demands for information on their customers and insistence that the companies tell no one about it (or else). Some, like Google, Apple and LinkedIn, have even tried to push back. The latest to do so: Twitter, which is taking the federal government to court saying its demands are a restriction in the company's First Amendment rights: "In the case of Twitter, their posts are public, they don't actually get that many requests that are related to national security, so they want to make that clear to users. In April, Twitter sent the government a draft copy of its July transparency report asking if it could be reviewed for publication. They were told they couldn't publish it. Twitter is saying this is what we call 'prior restraint,' it's a gag order under our First Amendment. Before we even speak, our First Amendment is violated. So they are asking now in court to be able to say more." Twitter's odds of winning in court are uncertain. Google and others who have sued the federal government ended up settling their cases out of court. The government still demands information from them, but the companies can give users a general idea of how many times the government has asked for information. In other words, it's a battle of inches, and there are still miles to go before Big Brother's prying eyes are closed. MORE MISSING IRS EMAILS This time, it's not related to Lois Lerner, but the Internal Revenue Service, facing a lawsuit from NetJets over a tax bill, is accused of "losing" the emails and other data relevant to the case: "In a suit against the IRS filed in 2011, NetJets claims the IRS improperly forced it to pay a ticket tax that is meant to apply to commercial-airline customers, not private jets. The IRS counter-sued. But in 2012, Congress clarified that NetJets was right, the tax does not apply to it. "In the meantime, key information and evidence has suddenly vanished. The Columbus Dispatch reports NetJets has filed a motion with US District Court Judge Edmund Sargus Jr., claiming the IRS has 'wiped clean a number of computer hard drives containing e-mails and other electronic documents that the government was required to produce' in the company's lawsuit against the agency." Destroying evidence appears to be the favorite pastime at the IRS.