Washington (CNN) -- Twitter is suing the U.S. government in an effort to loosen restrictions on what the social media giant can say publicly about the national security-related requests it receives for user data.

The company filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department on Monday in a federal court in northern California, arguing that its First Amendment rights are being violated by restrictions that forbid the disclosure of how many national security letters and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court orders it receives -- even if that number is zero.

Twitter vice president Ben Lee wrote in a blog post that it's suing in an effort to publish the full version of a "transparency report" prepared this year that includes those details.

The San Francisco-based firm was unsatisfied with the Justice Department's move in January to allow technological firms to disclose the number of national security-related requests they receive in broad ranges.

"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," Lee wrote. "We should be free to do this in a meaningful way, rather than in broad, inexact ranges."

But a Justice Department spokeswoman pointed to the January move -- which was aimed at mollifying complaints from tech giants like Google and Microsoft -- as evidence that the government is allowing the release of at least some information on its surveillance activities.

"Earlier this year, the government addressed similar concerns raised in a lawsuit brought by several major tech companies," department spokeswoman Emily Pierce said. "There, the parties worked collaboratively to allow tech companies to provide broad information on government requests while also protecting national security."

Critics of the U.S. government's secrecy surrounding its national security surveillance activities lauded Twitter's move.

Jameel Jaffer, the ACLU's deputy legal director, said "challenging this tangled web of secrecy rules and gag orders" was the right move, and he urged other tech firms to follow Twitter's lead.

"If these laws prohibit Twitter from disclosing basic information about government surveillance, then these laws violate the First Amendment," Jaffer said. "The Constitution doesn't permit the government to impose so broad a prohibition on the publication of truthful speech about government conduct."

Twitter的起訴美國政府對國家安全的數據
由埃里克Bradner，美國有線電視新聞網
2014年10月7日 - 1919年更新格林尼治標準時間（0319 HKT）
微博想讓用戶了解國家安全相關的數據請求。
微博想讓用戶了解國家安全相關的數據請求。
新聞提要
Twitter的起訴司法部關於什麼可以說的數據請求的限制
公司表示，希望發布有關美國政府的監視範圍的詳細信息
華盛頓（美國有線電視新聞網） - Twitter的起訴，美國政府在努力放寬對哪些社交媒體巨頭可以公開說一下它接收用戶數據的國家安全相關的請求的限制。
該公司提起訴訟，指控司法部週一在聯邦法院在加州北部，認為其憲法第一修正案的權利受到侵犯的禁止對國家安全有多少字母和接收外國情報監視法法庭命令披露的限制 - - 即使該數目為零。
Twitter的副總裁本·李在寫博客文章，它的起訴在努力發布完整版“透明度報告”，今年，包括那些細節準備。
這家位於舊金山的一家公司是不滿意司法部的舉動在一月份，讓科技公司透露，他們收到廣泛的範圍內國家安全相關的請求的數量。
“這是我們的信念，我們是根據憲法第一修正案有權通過提供有關美國政府的監視範圍的信息回應給我們的用戶的關注，以及對美國政府官員的聲明 - 包括哪些尚未收到類型的法律程序， “李寫道。“我們應該自由地做這個有意義的方式，而不是廣泛的，不精確的範圍。”
但司法部發言人指出，1月轉會 - 這是旨在安撫投訴科技巨頭如谷歌和微軟 - 作為證據，政府是允許的，至少一些信息在其監督活動的發布。
“今年早些時候，政府在解決幾大科技公司提起的訴訟提出了類似的擔憂，”女發言人艾米莉皮爾斯說。“目前，各方協同努力，使高科技公司，提供廣泛的信息，對政府的要求，同時也能保護國家安全。”
美國政府的保密評論家圍繞其國家安全監督活動稱讚Twitter的舉動。
賈米爾賈費爾，美國公民自由聯盟的副法律總監表示，“挑戰的保密規則，禁言令這個糾結的網”是一個正確的舉動，他呼籲其他科技公司跟隨Twitter的領先優勢。
“如果這些法律禁止微博披露有關政府監控的基本信息，然後將這些法律違反憲法第一修正案，”杰弗說。“憲法並不容許政府徵收對政府行為的真實言論的發表如此廣泛禁止”。