Twitter gives officials in U.S. users' data 69 percent of time requested

Twitter gives government agencies in the United States at least some of the information they ask for on users 69 percent of the time.

That data and much more about how the social network responds to government requests for user information, as well as demands to remove tweets and reports of copyright violations was part of Twitter's second so-called transparency report, which it issued today "in celebration of" Data Privacy Day.

"We've been thinking about ways in which we can more effectively share this information, with an aim to make it more meaningful and accessible to the community at large," Twitter wrote in a blog post. "We believe the open exchange of information can have a positive global impact. To that end, it is vital for us (and other Internet services) to be transparent about government requests for user information and government requests to withhold content from the Internet; these growing inquiries can have a serious chilling effect on free expression - and real privacy implications."

In the report, Twitter said that, worldwide, it received 1,858 requests from governments for information about users, as well as 6,646 reports of copyright violations, and 48 demands from governments that content they deem illegal be re... [Read more]





by Daniel Terdiman via CNET