The American Civil Liberties Union and Electronic Frontier Foundation will appeal...

District Court in Alexandria, Va. The Justice Department requested subscriber information, like user names, screen names and “records of user activity for any connections made to or from the account,” Judge Theresa Buchanan wrote in the order. In January, ACLU and EFF asked the court to vacate the Twitter order and “to unseal all orders and supporting documents relating to Twitter and any other service provider.” The groups appealed on behalf of client Birgitta Jonsdottir, an Icelandic Parliament member. In requesting data transfer volume and destination Internet protocol addresses, the Twitter order doesn’t demand the contents of any communication, Buchanan said. “Therefore, as the targets of mere records disclosure, petitioners may not bring a customer challenge” under the Stored Communications Act. The law provides greater protection to the contents of electronic communications than to their records, she said. The court ruling is unfortunate, EFF said. “It raises the question of what kind of access does the government have … about you that’s stored by your service provider,” said Cindy Cohn, EFF legal director. The court relied on two Supreme Court decisions from the 1970s, she said in an interview. “Third parties have a lot more information about us now than they did in the 1970s.” What isn’t publicly available is “the justification for the government needing to obtain this order in secret,” said Aden Fine, ACLU attorney. “Without knowing what the government’s arguments are, it’s difficult for our client to thoroughly defend her rights.” The ruling raises concerns about U.S.-based services, Cohn added. EFF and ACLU plan to file an appeal within the next week, she said.