White House Appeals Ruling That President Can't Block Twitter Followers

[rslade]

Seven plaintiffs sued for access to Trump's tweets, after they were blocked from his Twitter account for their political views.  The case was widely seen as an issue of freedom of speech, as well as access to official government statements, and, last month, was decided in the complainants' favour.  Now, the US Justice Department is appealing the ruling.

[DAlexander]

This one is interesting when you consider what we must do every day in the information security world.  As security managers we must weigh the costs versus the potential costs of loss when recommending solutions.  I wonder what would happen if we applied that same logic to our legal system.  This story is a perfect example.  I don't even use Twitter and see every one of his tweets for free on nearly every news channel within minutes of him posting them.  From the cost-benefit analysis...how much money and resources are being used to allow seven people immediate access to his messages?  Maybe lawyers should be required to be CISSP!!

[Flyslinger2]

So the Prez needs to use IOS 12 and the security that is being proposed for that release and all of this would be moot:

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2018/06/05/apple-smacks-facebook-over-web-tracking.html

Lawyers - having owned an IT consulting business in the Wash DC area and the populace of the region being 50% lawyers (I exaggerate a tad but it sure seems like it) you end up running into them during the course of doing business, especially if you do really well and your network refers you to their friends.  Sadly, they are the worse for payment and are happy to grind you down in court over payment.

This is purely an example of a lawyer seeing a high profile case and is in it for the notoriety.   

[Beads]

Until this decision makes it way through the courts its really a yawner. Meaning it makes no difference for now either way. Also your missing a broader point that no individual can block access to any other twitter account. This one point brings in all types of problematic behaviors from stalkers, ex-spouses, court orders, etc into the digital domain where some brevity may be (thankfully) in place to protect others.

I see this as being a possibly much broader problem than just limiting the discussion to the current POTUS. Consider if you cannot block Twitter what can be said about other microblogging social media such as Facebook or Instagram?

Be prepared for some real consequences or guardrails being put up here by the courts and don't count your victories too soon.

[Flyslinger2]

POTUS has the right to block anyone from viewing his post just as much as I do mine on FB.  Internally, FB allows me, with granularity, identify who is allowed to view my posts.

[Baechle]

Brent,

I don't understand where you're deriving this idea:

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@Beads wrote:

Also your missing a broader point that no individual can block access to any other twitter account. This one point brings in all types of problematic behaviors from stalkers, ex-spouses, court orders, etc into the digital domain where some brevity may be (thankfully) in place to protect others.

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How are you applying the impact of this decision beyond the POTUS?

Sincerely,

Eric B.