Technology

Brazil Suing Twitter Over Messages Revealing DUI Checkpoints

Less than two weeks after Twitter announced that it would censor tweets in specific countries, while leaving them viewable to everyone else, it has received a notice that it is being sued by Brazil for updates by a resident revealing DUI checkpoints.

Twitter stated in late January it would “give ourselves the ability to reactively withhold content from users in a specific country — while keeping it available in the rest of the world” — in order to continue its growth on the international scale:

[...] we will enter countries that have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression. Some differ so much from our ideas that we will not be able to exist there. Others are similar but, for historical or cultural reasons, restrict certain types of content, such as France or Germany, which ban pro-Nazi content.

(Related: Google agrees to censor blogs in certain countries) 

Now, Gizmodo reports that we may be seeing the first “domino to fall” on Twitter’s new policy. According to Gizmodo, the most notable of the Twitter accounts under fire by the Brazilian government is @LeiSecaRJ, which informs its nearly 300,000 followers of the location of DUI and radar checkpoints so drivers can avoid them.

Twitter Being Sued by Brazilian Government Over DUI Checkpoint Tweets

This tweet describes how @LeiSecaRJ is against censorship and in favor of freedom of expression.

@LeiSecaRJ describes their Twitter feed as providing “Real-time information on traffic problems at the RJ, which both hinder and hurt our constitutional right to come and go.”

BBC reports that a similar account with fewer followers, @RadarBlizGo, has announced it will stop its updates until the case is over.

Gizmodo states that Twitter, which has not yet responded to the lawsuit, is being sued for $290,000 per day that the posts on the accounts remain live.

 

Comments (8)

  • whatthecrazy
    Posted on February 7, 2012 at 4:35pm

    Yup the dupers don’t like getting duped………………hmmmm

    Report Post »  
    • ShyLow
      Posted on February 7, 2012 at 5:11pm

      State Police should be abolished…ask youself,how many people have been saved by the State Police…what is their yearly cost…and who will be at the door to take your guns away…what can the State Police do that your county Sherrif can’t…America is and has been a police state for sometime now…the Ten% plan will defund the State Police and I.R.S. The county collects 10 precent sales tax…keeps 90 percent and gives 10% to state…the state then keeps 90% of that and gives ten percent to Federal…that is the only way to get power back to the people without violence…defund the beast…Become a Wolverine and support the Ten percent plan

      Report Post » ShyLow  
  • CleanUpAisle2013
    Posted on February 7, 2012 at 4:03pm

    Reminds me when I was pulled over by a trooper for flashing my lights at drivers to slow down because there was a radar sting ahead for them. He threatened to arrest me for “obstruction”. Then he informed me those speeding tickets paid his salary. I responded, “I thought the idea was to get folks to slow down, not continue speeding for your benefit.”
    “Leave before I change my mind!”
    “Yessir, Ossifer!”

    Report Post » CleanUpAisle2013  
  • Smokey_Bojangles
    Posted on February 7, 2012 at 4:03pm

    Wish Some one would do the same for The Police State Road Blocks here.They are not DUI Check points.Madd and Government try to convince you of that.They are Revenue Generating Check points. Never hear of Any Deportations form them,but They may catch 1 DUI 1 drinking while driving(Means they are not drunk) 5 Sat Belt Violations($50 a pop) and other such Dangerous criminals as Out dated registration,Tags,Inspections,Broken Headlights,ETC ETC. Then as they have the side street and traffic blocked 30 drunk drivers are weaving down the highway that a patrol officer could have caught if he was not sitting at a police state roadblock.

    Report Post » Smokey_Bojangles  
    • KidCharlemagne
      Posted on February 7, 2012 at 4:58pm

      Back in the ‘70’s, then folks would have been appalled at checkpoints on US roadways, ’cause that’s what the Soviet Union was known for behind the Iron Curtain of Communism…

      But fast-forward 35 to 40 years later, Soviet-style checkpoints are pretty common on US roadways now and nobody even thinks twice about it anymore.

      Report Post »  
  • justangry
    Posted on February 7, 2012 at 3:53pm

    I imagine Big Sis will have something similar to say once the TSA is on every major highway in the country and twitter starts alerting people that don’t want some dumbass federal employee groping them just for driving down the road.

    Report Post » justangry  
  • cessna152
    Posted on February 7, 2012 at 3:36pm

    Government‘s gotta’ collect their lute… freaking Marxist/Nazi/Humanists…greed driven morons. They are the 1% that controls the 99%.

    Report Post » cessna152  

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