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Wait, I thought Twitter was going to change the world by allowing open communications channels to circumvent tyranny? Kind of a useless tool in that regard if

Wait, I thought Twitter was going to change the world by allowing open communications channels to circumvent tyranny? Kind of a useless tool in that regard if it documents all your information and the company is willing to hand it all over at a moment's notice. Does Twitter have an official stance on this anywhere?

guelo 15y ago
They were only referring to officially disliked tyrannies, not ours.
- unicornporn 15y ago
  Let me inform you that it's pretty much officially disliked in some places.
mikeryan 15y ago
Yep http://support.twitter.com/articles/41949-guidelines-for-law-enforcement http://support.twitter.com/articles/41949-guidelines-for-law...
- Retric 15y ago
  Private Information Requires a Subpoena or Court Order In accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service, non-public information about Twitter users is not released except as lawfully required by appropriate legal process such as a subpoena, court order, or other valid legal process. Some information we store is automatically collected, while other information is provided at the user’s discretion. Though we do store this information, it may not be accurate if the user has created a fake or anonymous profile. Twitter doesn’t require email verification or identity authentication. So, we release this information, but there is little that proves you are actually you. However, if they also store IP addresses or you have released private information you might have far less plausible dependability.
freshhawk 15y ago
There's marketing hype and there's the reality of operating a business under US law. And really, if that was the actual goal then twitter could use plenty of existing encryption technologies to make twitter actually useful for tyranny circumventing communications. That wouldn't be a twitter-sized business though, not even close.
sneak 15y ago
It's not a matter of whether they're willing or not. They're compelled to by US federal law. The best part is, thanks to the USA PATRIOT Act, cops don't even need a judge or a warrant to get it anymore. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_security_letter http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_security_letter From 2003 to 2006, the FBI averaged about 65,000 NSLs sent - PER YEAR. Twitter has the username to ip+timestamp mapping, your ISP has the ip+timestamp to name+physical address mapping.
- eli 15y ago
  This was a subpoena, not an NSL.
- tatsuke95 15y ago
  I don't blame Twitter, per se. But you've got to admit that the service loses a bit of social utility if it acts more like a documentation resource for the government than an anonymous communication service. I mean, if you're going to make a stand, you'd figure doing it against a subpoena for what are essentially traffic violations would be a nice place to start.

guelo 15y ago

They were only referring to officially disliked tyrannies, not ours.

unicornporn 15y ago
Let me inform you that it's pretty much officially disliked in some places.

mikeryan 15y ago

Yep http://support.twitter.com/articles/41949-guidelines-for-law-enforcement http://support.twitter.com/articles/41949-guidelines-for-law...

Retric 15y ago
Private Information Requires a Subpoena or Court Order In accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service, non-public information about Twitter users is not released except as lawfully required by appropriate legal process such as a subpoena, court order, or other valid legal process. Some information we store is automatically collected, while other information is provided at the user’s discretion. Though we do store this information, it may not be accurate if the user has created a fake or anonymous profile. Twitter doesn’t require email verification or identity authentication. So, we release this information, but there is little that proves you are actually you. However, if they also store IP addresses or you have released private information you might have far less plausible dependability.

freshhawk 15y ago

There's marketing hype and there's the reality of operating a business under US law. And really, if that was the actual goal then twitter could use plenty of existing encryption technologies to make twitter actually useful for tyranny circumventing communications. That wouldn't be a twitter-sized business though, not even close.

sneak 15y ago

It's not a matter of whether they're willing or not. They're compelled to by US federal law. The best part is, thanks to the USA PATRIOT Act, cops don't even need a judge or a warrant to get it anymore. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_security_letter http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_security_letter From 2003 to 2006, the FBI averaged about 65,000 NSLs sent - PER YEAR. Twitter has the username to ip+timestamp mapping, your ISP has the ip+timestamp to name+physical address mapping.

eli 15y ago
This was a subpoena, not an NSL.
tatsuke95 15y ago
I don't blame Twitter, per se. But you've got to admit that the service loses a bit of social utility if it acts more like a documentation resource for the government than an anonymous communication service. I mean, if you're going to make a stand, you'd figure doing it against a subpoena for what are essentially traffic violations would be a nice place to start.