The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday filed a civil lawsuit against whistleblower Edward Snowden over the publishing of his new book containing state secrets without permission. In response, Snowden joked that the absurd lawsuit is ‘good for Bitcoin‘ on Twitter.

The U.S. government is pursuing a strange lawsuit over Edward Snowden’s new book ‘Permanent Record.’ The issue is not with the distribution of the book, which would easily go against the First Amendment if stopped, but instead who is profiting off of the book. The authorities are demanding that all profits from the book be seized since it is at the government’s expense.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said in a statement that “Intelligence information should protect our nation, not provide personal profit… This lawsuit will ensure that Edward Snowden receives no monetary benefits from breaching the trust placed in him.”

However, critics have said that the information in the book has already been published by other news organization. In effect, this is simply a smear campaign by the government against Snowden to prevent him from profiting while he is in exile living in Russia.

Snowden, however, seemed to be demoralized by the lawsuit. Instead, he brought up on Twitter how it is a glowing example of why we need Bitcoin in a joking way — “In conclusion, this is good for bitcoin,” he wrote.

The fact that the U.S. government can halt or seize profits coming from anyone’s work, as long as they deem it offensive to the state’s interests, is a massive red flag. In effect, it gives the state carte blanche to effectively clamp down on free speech without explicitly doing so.

This is why Snowden is right. In effect, yes, this is good for Bitcoin, simply because every new lawsuit like this one will only make the case for it that much more obvious.

Do you think that Snowden should consider accepting cryptocurrencies for his new book? Let us know your thoughts below in the comments.

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