Twitter has reportedly barred the analytics firm Dataminr, which scans the Twitterverse for breaking news and trends, from selling its services to U.S. intelligence agencies. Twitter seems to have no good reason for standing in the way of national security – beyond advancing its own public relations strategy.

U.S. intelligence agencies and Dataminr are said to have been working together for several years in an unpaid pilot program. Twitter, which claims it’s just learning about the arrangement, won’t allow it to be extended, because it opposes selling its content for purposes of government surveillance.

Twitter’s resistance is remarkably arbitrary, given that any private firm can pay Dataminr for the service. The Department of Homeland Security has a $255,000 contract to receive breaking news, although it’s unclear whether that allows surveillance use.

Twitter says that intelligence agencies could develop their own methods for tracking public accounts on the social media site. This is true but beside the point: It makes little sense for the CIA to re-create a program that Dataminr has already made, hemmed in as it would be by intellectual property concerns. What’s more, Dataminr’s product has already proved applicable to national security: It reportedly sent an alert to clients about the Brussels terror attacks 10 minutes before any news organization reported them.

Twitter’s stance is also hypocritical: It’s more than happy to sell all sorts of personal data on users to advertisers.

In the case of Dataminr, the tweets the government wants to monitor are messages freely sent out to the world – with no expectation of privacy. Twitter’s baseless stand against the U.S. intelligence agencies may set back national security, but it will do nothing to advance personal freedom.

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