Colorado Twitter User Investigated for "Anti-Government Propaganda"

As a frequent Twitter user, I use the micro-blogging service to "tweet" survival tips, comments on daily news and my displeasure at the way the U.S. Government has their fingers into everything including our wallets.

I was just posting some alternative news stories when I ran across this tweet that said:

EVERYONE. Drop what you're doing, and read this right now.

Normally, I wouldn't have clicked the short link that followed but knowing the person that sent the tweet, I did.

What I read on a hastily written blog post blew my mind! Long story short, the blogger had been having trouble accessing his Twitter account for a few days. He sent an email to Twitter support asking for help and after a few more days this was the reply he received from Twitter:

"We at Twitter want to apologize for your issues over the last week. We were asked by a government agency to suspend your accounts while you were investigated for suspicious activity, including anti-government propaganda. We complied after being given a warrant from a federal judge. You have now been cleared, and your accounts reinstated. Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused."

Source

So there you have it, an un-named government agency investigating U.S. citizens for "anti-government propaganda." This is the type of thing that we would expect to see from a country like China, Turkey or Vietnam, but the United States?

Some of us knew this day was coming. The way groups can summon support for their causes over the Internet using social networks like Twitter or Facebook is a very scary thing for a government that is trying to tighten control over its citizens. I guess the First Amendment will now come with a warning label, "Dissent will NOT be tolerated."

Your thoughts?




UPDATED
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Originally posted by survivalstation
Your thoughts?

This concerns me. A lot, a whole lot. I've got my concerns about what will happen if this continues. It makes me wonder what they'll decided is worth investigating, and what they'll do when they finish investigating... Hmm.

reply to post by survivalstation

Now that is enough to ruin my day. Thanks for sharing it. It's important to know where the progress stands on their efforts and the term "Anti-Government Propaganda" in the same paragraph as federal courts, warrants and official investigations should be enough to give everyone a bitter cold chill right about now. Things we've all had in the back of our minds and really would never have believed possible in the real world are happening and on the front page. Talk about Interesting Times......I wish I'd been born about 40 years earlier, myself. I'd have gotten to enjoy my whole life in the magic window of America's peak....without living through it's collapse.

While it doesnt actually surprise me, it is a bit troubling that without the twitter administrators telling him, he never would have even known he was under investigation in the first place.

Then again, would they even be allowed to disclose that to the user?

The link in your post doesn't work; it looks like he switched it to a new post.(New Post here) I'm confused by this statement:

This is a repost of a blog I posted earlier. I did not take the first one down…

Who did, then?

If this is true -- and we only have his word for it -- this is terrifying. So long as you are not calling for violent action, then it is outright unconstitutional for anti-government propaganda to bring the law down on you.

But I always stand back before panicking in these situations -- do we have any evidence beyond his word that this happened the way he said? This just sounds so very clearly unconstitutional and immoral that I tend to think it's about as unlikely to have actually happened that way...

Why would they take his twitter down while they investigated him? That would be a really poor tactic, I think.

(And, of course, I know that there are parts of the govt. that do monitor us through facebook and twitter. While that's offensive, troubling, and probably unconstitutional, i think it's mostly harmless -- besides its flagrant and damaging disregard for our privacy and personal rights. But, uh... I forget what I was trying to say. That the government is a little less evil than it could be, maybe? Eesh.)

Anyone silly enough to post anti government sentiment on Facebook or Twitter had better be ready for what the government does. Both of these outlets are used by government to acquire new people to investigate and look into.

Some may even say they are government backed programs, nothing like citizens offering up all there information freely and willingly no?

reply to post by Solasis


Wow, that page was working just a few moments ago. Thanks for the notice, I'll update the link.

Wow. Just wow. I would love to see what posts earned him such scrutiny.

social databases, i mean networks are the comercial public version of the echelon program

what else is new?

hit the same specific keys and that red light will surelly blink

ive said this before

either in life or internet life, do not say or do anything you are not ready to stand and take responsability for




Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

These bottom feeders doing this are desperate to keep their power...They have been doing so many things for themselves instead of we the people..

Keeping the status quo with themselves enabled to continue on, some long after the next election..Creating new agencies and appointing lifetime positions for their pals which, everyone has witnessed...


So when people start complaining or calling them out, they investigate you for anti government activities...

With a big den of thieves, it is the perfect setup..

I'd like to point out that Twitter said that they complied after getting a warrant from a judge. So Twitter was not responsible, and had to comply. And since they didn't comply until given a warrant, it sounds like they tried not to comply at all.

Originally posted by AnotherYOU
ive said this before

either in life or internet life, do not say or do anything you are not ready to stand and take responsability for

 

Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

 

You've hit the nail on the head. Now we know why Facebook, Google+ and Congress are all pushing for and end to Internet anonymity. It makes their job that much harder trying to track down "AnotherYOU", IP address 72.69.xx.xx as compared to John Smith, 123 Any Street, Smalltown,USA

I guess I'm screwed.

Really screwed.

reply to post by Solasis


Yes, I do give Twitter kudos for seeing the warrant before just arbitrarily handing over their user logs.

As another observation, has anyone noticed that many websites are now requiring your mobile phone number to send an SMS 'activation code' to complete the registration process?

Originally posted by OldCorp
I guess I'm screwed.

Really screwed.

You and me both brother. I speak my mind and if they want to raid my house in the middle of the night because of it.... well, I guess you'll be reading about me in the papers.

Originally posted by survivalstation
reply to post by Solasis

 

As another observation, has anyone noticed that many websites are now requiring your mobile phone number to send an SMS 'activation code' to complete the registration process?

I've only seen that on Craigslist, and there it makes sense to avoid spammers; and I haven't checked in a while, but I don't think every activity requires you to create an account...

What others require that?

If you're right, I'm afraid the last bastions of privacy on the internet will soon be those places that shan't be named...

Originally posted by OldCorp
I guess I'm screwed.

Really screwed.

You aren't the only one! I've had several posts about the government on facebook blocked from posting giving me a message along the lines of "the content you included in the message is not allowed on facebook." So I got rid of it. Twitter has plenty of little remarks on it, none are violent are anything, but they still disapprove.

reply to post by Solasis


Google right off the top of my head. I've seen a few others but never completed the registration after seeing that so I couldn't tell you the names.

Originally posted by OldCorp
I guess I'm screwed.

Really screwed.

Yea, and ya even put your mugshot in your avatar!! To make it even worst for yourself.

Some folks are something else...

Originally posted by survivalstation
reply to post by Solasis

 

Google right off the top of my head. I've seen a few others but never completed the registration after seeing that so I couldn't tell you the names.

Hmm, Google's never asked for that from me... I'm on Plus and most of their other services, and have created a couple of new accounts in the last few weeks for various reasons... But I've always sourced them in my original email address.