Twitter wants to tell you that you're being spied on. This week, the social media company sued the U.S. Justice Department for the right to reveal the number and nature of requests for private user information. According to their lawsuit, the tech company said that under current rules, they're not even allowed to say whether or not they've received any requests for information, and they believe the rules are unconstitutional.

Other internet companies like Google and Microsoft have made similar complaints about surveillance, and formed an agreement with the government that allowed them to release some unspecific information. However, Twitter has taken a more aggressive stance against sharing user information, and has described themselves as “the free-speech wing of the free-speech party.”

After months of negotiation with government officials, Twitter is taking the issue to the courts, hoping to provide users with complete transparency. Although we'll have to wait and see how this lawsuit turns out, we should stand with any tech company willing to go to such great lengths to ensure that our privacy rights are protected – even from our own government.