FBI request for Twitter data may have breached legal guidelines
FBI requests for data from Twitter may have overstepped what is legally allowed, according to legal experts, citing two warrantless surveillance orders the social network received.
FBI request for Twitter data may have breached legal guidelines.
Each of the two orders, known as national security letters, specifically request information that can include email header data and browsing history.
It fuels concerns among privacy advocates that the FBI is routinely issuing these types of orders to access personal data that could flout what is deemed legal by the Justice Department, which concluded in 2008 that such requests should be restricted to phone billing records.
Twitter said it was the first time it was allowed to publicly share the secretive orders, which were bound by gag orders issued in 2015 and 2016. It follows similar revelations in recent months by other major internet companies including Google and Yahoo.
In a blog post announcing the two orders, Twitter assured that it did not share all the information the FBI requested.
"While the actual NSLs request a large amount of data, Twitter provides a very limited set of data in response to NSLs consistent with federal law and interpretive guidance from the U.S. Department of Justice," Elizabeth Banker, associate general counsel at Twitter, wrote.
The identity of the accounts sought by the FBI are redacted in both the revealed orders.