Twitter stood fast against a court order seeking personal information about one of its users. This is from a news story that appeared on many Web sites and in many newspapers today (09 May 2012). Read the article and come back and tell us what you think. We’d like your opinion. Is Twitter doing the right thing?
Tweet Free or Die: In Defense of Occupy Protester, Twitter Fights the Man
Taking a bold stance on the privacy rights of its users, Twitter on Tuesday filed a motion to quash a New York State court ruling that would require the company to hand over information on one of its users, Malcolm Harris, in connection with an ongoing investigation.
“As we said in our brief, ‘Twitter’s Terms of Service make absolutely clear that its users own their content,’” Twitter legal counsel Ben Lee said in a statement provided to AllThingsD. “Our filing with the court reaffirms our steadfast commitment to defending those rights for our users.”
Way to go Twitter. Anyone legally justified in finding out what somebody “tweeted” can justify it’s “need to know” to a judge and obtain a court order. But FIRST they have to prove that the person who “tweeted” is actually the person they’re wanting to know about.
I wonder about this on any of these social sights. Anybody can register with somebody else’s name, and even use somebody else’s photograph. They can pick and chose all kinds of false information to use. Real friends and family members already know what you look like. The rest? Who knows.