Twitter is suing the FBI and the Department of Justice to be able to release more information about government surveillance of its users. As part of the company's latest transparency report released in July, Twitter described how it were being prohibited from reporting on the actual scope of surveillance of Twitter users by the U.S. government. Laws prohibit and even criminalize a service provider like Twitter from disclosing the exact number of national security letters ("NSLs") and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act ("FISA") court orders received.

So, today, Twitter has filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to publish its full Transparency Report, and asking the court to declare these restrictions on its ability to speak about government surveillance as unconstitutional under the First Amendment. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is already considering the constitutionality of the non-disclosure provisions of the NSL law later this week.

"It’s our belief that we are entitled under the First Amendment to respond to our users’ concerns and to the statements of U.S. government officials by providing information about the scope of U.S. government surveillance – including what types of legal process have not been received. We should be free to do this in a meaningful way, rather than in broad, inexact ranges," Twitter said.

You can read Twitter's filing with the U.S. District Court of Northern California in PDF form here.

The U.S. government has been able to access phone networks and high-speed Internet traffic for years to catch suspected terrorists. The FBI also started pushing technology companies like Google, Skype and others to guarantee access to their data streams and grab emails, video chats, pictures and more. It recently emerged that Yahoo was threatened with a daily fine of $250,000 by the U.S. government if it didn't comply with demands to give up information on its users.