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Twitter has been shutting down API access to clients that don't honor deletions for years now. I don't know why this is news. Note: somehow deleted tweets get c

by sulam 10y ago

Twitter has been shutting down API access to clients that don't honor deletions for years now. I don't know why this is news. Note: somehow deleted tweets get covered anyway. If someone is sufficiently public of a figure, Twitter's policy doesn't save them from being publicly shamed when they tweet something the world doesn't approve of. In fact you could easily argue that European law requires Twitter to disable this access. If I want to delete my online presence, surely being able to actually delete my tweets is as important as being able to delete things from the Google-cache.

syshum 10y ago
>>>I don't know why this is news. if you read the post by the company they clearly explain why this should be news. the fact that twitter allows at least one company to do this already IMO is enough to make ti news. Why can Politwoops exist but not this site?
- sulam 10y ago
  Because they're doing different things? Also clearly outlined?
ominous 10y ago
"delete my tweets". Would you say a Major Influencer owns his public presence? Does Donald Trump own his words? Does J. K. Rowling? (as per the examples given in the letter). I honestly don't know. We hope you’ll consider the fact that as Twitter has become a dominant platform of communication, verified users with huge follower bases influence the public dialog as much as elected officials, and should be accountable for their public statements on Twitter just as they are for public statements they make anywhere else. I find it hard to believe that people agree with a Developer Agreement and Policy such as Twitter's. Do you? An 'agreement' orders you to delete content because it says so, and you agree with it? What if I use the API to flag content I want, then wget the relevant html. Would an API agreement have any say in that? Must all screenshots of deleted tweets be deleted? Articles about deleted tweets? Are the original tweeters forced to deny having tweeted what they did, unless Twitter undeleted theirs tweets? Even if taken to court? Sir, did you, or did you not, tweet that you want to acquire jell-o and take a bath in it Well, just check the API. It says I didn't tweet such thing Case closed Should I tweet my orders to my army of nuclear powered androids, and then delete it, so that no proof exists? Furthermore, the API exists in the world. The deleted tweet is a detail of the API and of the twitter infrastructure, that allows deletion. However, the fact that a specific tweet was deleted does not belong to the API, but to the meatspace. Are we to deny that a tweet was deleted? More than that, are we to deny that a specific tweet was sent at a specific date? Maybe the question really is, can a Developer Agreement and Policy change the world? How is this enforceable? It is new both because of Politifacts existence, and because we are letting an API agreement apply where it does not belong.
tremon 10y ago
In fact you could easily argue that European law requires Twitter to disable this access But you'd be wrong. The right to be forgotten does not apply to public figures making political statements.

by sulam 10y ago

syshum 10y ago

>>>I don't know why this is news. if you read the post by the company they clearly explain why this should be news. the fact that twitter allows at least one company to do this already IMO is enough to make ti news. Why can Politwoops exist but not this site?

sulam 10y ago
Because they're doing different things? Also clearly outlined?

ominous 10y ago

"delete my tweets". Would you say a Major Influencer owns his public presence? Does Donald Trump own his words? Does J. K. Rowling? (as per the examples given in the letter). I honestly don't know. We hope you’ll consider the fact that as Twitter has become a dominant platform of communication, verified users with huge follower bases influence the public dialog as much as elected officials, and should be accountable for their public statements on Twitter just as they are for public statements they make anywhere else. I find it hard to believe that people agree with a Developer Agreement and Policy such as Twitter's. Do you? An 'agreement' orders you to delete content because it says so, and you agree with it? What if I use the API to flag content I want, then wget the relevant html. Would an API agreement have any say in that? Must all screenshots of deleted tweets be deleted? Articles about deleted tweets? Are the original tweeters forced to deny having tweeted what they did, unless Twitter undeleted theirs tweets? Even if taken to court? Sir, did you, or did you not, tweet that you want to acquire jell-o and take a bath in it Well, just check the API. It says I didn't tweet such thing Case closed Should I tweet my orders to my army of nuclear powered androids, and then delete it, so that no proof exists? Furthermore, the API exists in the world. The deleted tweet is a detail of the API and of the twitter infrastructure, that allows deletion. However, the fact that a specific tweet was deleted does not belong to the API, but to the meatspace. Are we to deny that a tweet was deleted? More than that, are we to deny that a specific tweet was sent at a specific date? Maybe the question really is, can a Developer Agreement and Policy change the world? How is this enforceable? It is new both because of Politifacts existence, and because we are letting an API agreement apply where it does not belong.

tremon 10y ago

In fact you could easily argue that European law requires Twitter to disable this access But you'd be wrong. The right to be forgotten does not apply to public figures making political statements.