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New York City Subpoenas Twitter For Occupy Wall Street Protester Data

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Re: New York City Subpoenas Twitter For Occupy Wall Street Protester Data

#31

Post by eli »

sneak wrote: post #22
tatsuke95 wrote: post #4

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?

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 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+phys…

This was a subpoena, not an NSL.

Re: New York City Subpoenas Twitter For Occupy Wall Street Protester Data

#32

Post by smashing »

jlarocco wrote: post #30
Daishiman wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you're forming an opinion of a group based on what one source claims that group thinks without having neither evidence nor quotes? Sounds brilliant.

The backing evidence would be the tweets, wouldn't it? This seems to be on the same level as those YouTube videos where the guys show themselves driving down the highway at 120mph, and eventually get caught because of it. My opinion of OWS was formed using information from a variety of sources. This case is adding to an already negative perception. Perhaps this one thing wouldn't be enough to form a negative opinion,…

I'm actually surprised they are doing this as when the OWS protesters left, the problem literally went away. I'm not defending or criticizing the OWS people, but the government's involvement at this point seems to be like someone who believes they have the duty to punish people who inconvenienced them in some way after the fact. From what I know of human nature, if the government keeps pursuing this, the only way I think the OWS camps will reappear in the spring when the weather warms up. It is a shame if it does because the unemployment was dropping and I believe it was the real cause of the OWS activities.

Re: New York City Subpoenas Twitter For Occupy Wall Street Protester Data

#33

Post by orblivion »

guelo wrote: post #23

For American protestors it would be better if Silicon Valley were located in an Arab country. Just like it is helpful for Arab protestors that Silicon Valley is located in America.

Well, there is lots of silicon lying around at least.

Re: New York City Subpoenas Twitter For Occupy Wall Street Protester Data

#34

Post by waterside81 »

We provide social media analytics software for the intelligence community. During the height of the Occupy movements, various 3-letter agencies were very concerned about what people were saying on Twitter and how it could be used to organize and create trouble for authorities.

It's the double-edged sword of anything that's public & open - it can be used for good and it can be used against you.

Re: New York City Subpoenas Twitter For Occupy Wall Street Protester Data

#35

Post by rooshdi »

lallysingh wrote: post #28
noduerme wrote: post #27

Is there, seriously, fucking nobody in that government with the brains or decency to step back and say, "Wait a minute. This is what Iran does. This is what Syria does. This is what the Libyan government tried to do. We cannot and must not go down the road of persecuting people for their speech or their beliefs."

Nope (at least not elected), and the reason's simple: nobody smart wants to go through that level of BS for their daily job.

It's a sad state of the world when those that comply with BS are considered smart.

Re: New York City Subpoenas Twitter For Occupy Wall Street Protester Data

#36

Post by unicornporn »

guelo wrote: post #24
tatsuke95 wrote: post #4

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?

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

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

Re: New York City Subpoenas Twitter For Occupy Wall Street Protester Data

#37

Post by tatsuke95 »

sneak wrote: post #22
tatsuke95 wrote: post #4

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?

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 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+phys…

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.

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