<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
<div class="node-header">Snip:<br>
<span class="submitted"></span><b>the firm accused prosecutors of
trying to force its employees to violate federal law.</b><br>
<span class="submitted"><br>
Published on Tuesday, July 3, 2012 by <a
href="http://www.commondreams.org">Common Dreams</a> </span>
<div class="node-title">
<h2 class="title">US Govt Aggressive, Successful in Obtaining
Twitter User Data</h2>
</div>
<div class="author"> - Common Dreams staff </div>
</div>
<div class="node-content clear-block prose">
<div id="node-body">
<p>The release of a '<a
href="https://support.twitter.com/articles/20170002#">transparency
report</a>' by microblogging and social media company
Twitter reveals that the US government is by far the most
aggressive, and most successful, in seeking and obtaining
private user information compared to other world governments.</p>
<p><span class="image-right" style="width: 275px;"> <img
src="cid:part3.07030503.02000500@gmail.com" alt=""
title="" class="imagecache imagecache-headline_image
imagecache-default imagecache-headline_image_default"
height="165" width="275"> <span class="caption">
Twitter's transparency report reveals the US government
was the most successful in extracting information.
(Photograph: Iain Masterton/Alamy) </span></span>In the
report, released late Monday, the US government is shown to be
responsible for nearly 80% of all requests of Twitter user
data. Of those US government requests, according to Twitter,
75% resulted in disclosure of "some or all" of the information
related to the account.</p>
<p>Twitter says it notifies affected users of requests for their
account info "unless we’re prohibited by law." </p>
<p>The transparency report -- Twitter's first -- reflects
government demands for information from January 1, 2012
through June 30, 2012. Out of all nations, the US made 679
user information requests out of a total of 849, compared with
98 requests from the Japanese government, 11 each from the
Canadian and British governments and less than 10 from a
number of other countries.<img alt="" class="image-full"
src="cid:part4.08010402.06030004@gmail.com" style="width:
523px; height: 543px;" border="0"></p>
<p>Twitter's move towards greater transparency follows an
example set by internet giant Google, which has also release
transparency reports in recent years.</p>
<p>According to <a
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/jul/02/twitter-transparency-report">reporting</a>
by<em> The Guardian'</em>s Ed Pilkington, Monday's report came
on the same day that "a Manhattan judge ordered the website to
<a
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/02/twitter-release-occupy-prostest-tweets">hand
over almost three months of tweets </a>from an Occupy Wall
Street protester. Judge Matthew Sciarrino, ordering Twitter to
turn over the tweets of Malcolm Harris under the handle
@destructuremal, said that posting in public comes with
"consequences".</p>
<p><strong><em>The Guardian</em></strong>'s Matt Williams <a
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/02/twitter-release-occupy-prostest-tweets">provides</a>
details on the case of Harris, who was among hundreds of
protesters arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge during the height
of the Occupy movement's activity in the fall of 2011:<span
class="image-right" style="width: 350px"><img alt=""
src="cid:part8.09000907.02060800@gmail.com" style="width:
350px; height: 210px;" title="Malcolm Harris is accused of
disorderly conduct in relation to an Occupy protest on the
Brooklyn Bridge in October. (Photograph: Jessica
Rinaldi/Reuters)" border="0"><span class="caption">Malcolm
Harris is accused of disorderly conduct in relation to an
Occupy protest on the Brooklyn Bridge in October.
(Photograph: Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters)</span></span></p>
<blockquote>
<p>In January, the New York County district attorney's office
issued a subpoena to Twitter, calling on the firm to hand
over "any and all user information, including email address,
as well as any and all tweets posted for the period
9/15/2011 – 12/31/2011".</p>
<p>Harris initially attempted to block the move, but was told
that he had no proprietary interest to his own messages.</p>
<p>Twitter countered that this contradicts its own terms and
conditions, which explicitly states that users "retain their
right to any content they submit, post or display on or
through". Moreover, in its own legal challenge to the
subpoena, <b>the firm accused prosecutors of trying to
force its employees to violate federal law.</b></p>
<p>Lawyers for Twitter also argued that under the Uniform Act,
prosecutors would need to obtain a subpoena in California
before it could demand documents from a company based in
that state.</p>
<p>Monday's ruling found that a search warrant was indeed
needed for a final day's worth of tweets by Harris as they
fell within a timeline laid out in federal law. All else was
fair game for the prosecutors, the judge found.<br>
The court will now review the material and provide the
relevant tweets to the DA's office.</p>
<p>In a statement, Chief Assistant District Attorney Daniel
Alonso said he was "pleased that the court has ruled for a
second time that the Tweets at issue must be turned over".</p>
<p>He added: "We look forward to Twitter's complying and to
moving forward with the trial."</p>
<p>Responding to the development, Harris's attorney Martin
Stolar said: "I'm not surprised by the ruling, but I'm still
disappointed by it." He added that he and Twitter could
still mount a further challenge, stating that there was
still "plenty of time to do that" before his client's next
court appearance.</p>
<p>Stolar suggested that the latest decision shows that the
court fails to take into consideration 21st century
developments when it comes to what should be covered under
the fourth amendment. "That is somewhat bothersome," he
added.</p>
</blockquote>
<p align="center"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/07/03">https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/07/03</a></p>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>