The United States: A Nation of Fear and Tyranny Demands Personal Information from Twitter Users

The United States Government has had a long history of fear mongering in order to get what it wants. Muslims, Hispanics, Native Americans, Japanese-Americans, African Americans… Racial and religious scapegoats are nothing new. Illegal invasions have been constant for the past 50 years. The United States government has become a pro at intervening in the internal affairs of other nations. So why is this new and disgusting act such a surprise to anyone? It shouldn’t be.

The United States Government is trying to force Twitter to hand over information from some of it’s users claiming it is necessary in into investigation into Wikileaks. The information being demanded by the Government is as personal as Telephone numbers, Credit Card Information, Emails and IP addressed. The people they are requesting this information from are the people they see as the closest to Wikileaks including its founder Julian Assange. But they are also demanding information from Pfc. Bradley Manning and Iceland Member of Parliament Birgitta Jonsdottir.

We have seen in recent months that American’s citizen’s 4th Amendment rights mean nothing to the American Government. It turns out, they can search you and seize anything you have without warrants and without any evidence of any wrong doing. That has been painfully clear during the current TSA controversy. Also, It seems, that the Rights of foreign officials mean nothing to the American Government, either. Iceland is pissed.

Birgitta Jonsdottir is a Politician in Iceland. She is an elected representative in the Parliament, elected, of course, by the Citizens of Iceland. But the U.S. Government is looking beyond that and treating her like a common criminal by demanding personal information that is irrelevant to it’s criminal investigation. The United States is acting like the big bully on the block that can get away with anything it wants, but it can’t. Not when the whole world has its eyes on them through the internet and other Media outlets.

This war on the Freedom of Speech and against government transparency can only end in one of two ways: The Constitution and the Freedom of Speech win and our government becomes more transparent or the government wins and transparency and freedom of speech is lost forever in America.