Transparency reports on trial: New front for free speech?

The latest high profile free speech fight isn’t over a book, a movie or even a video game. Instead, the court case is over a corporate report, and has led media companies to join Twitter in an unusual First Amendment challenge of government gag orders. The court case highlights the growing significance of the so-called “transparency reports” that Twitter and a growing number of other companies, are using to inform users about government demands and other trends that affect the Internet.

Since they began appearing in 2010, the reports have served as an important measure of free speech and privacy. But they can also be a public relations tool for the companies that publish them. As a federal judge in California gets ready to hear Twitter’s case, it’s time to reflect what these reports are -- and are not -- all about.