Bird Watching: Twitter's Transparency Report

Following in the example of Google, Twitter is also releasing a semi-annual Transparency Report disclosing the number and type of user information requests it receives from various governments, and the percentage of the requests to which Twitter responded positively. In its most recent report, covering July through December 2011, Twitter stated that it had received 1,009 information requests, 42 content removal requests, and 3,268 takedown and related notices regarding alleged copyright infringement on the service. The former two numbers were up substantially from the preceding six month period; the copyright notices declined slightly (from 3,378 to 3,268) in that time.

Twitter additionally broke down the data by country, and specifically focused on its home country, the United States. According to Twitter, requests from governmental bodies within the United States from July through December 2012 included the following:

User Information Requests	Percentage where some or all information produced	User / Accounts Specified	Subpoenas	Court Orders	Search Warrants	Others
815	69%	1145	60%	11%	19%	10%

As with that of Google, Twitter's transparency report is a useful reminder both of the attractiveness of social media services to governmental information gathering, as well as the overall privacy issues arising out of social media use. Law enforcement and other government officials understand how much information people share on social media services; it's crucial for users to understand this as well.

Blogger Settles Case with Former Employer Over Twitter Follower Ownership

The social media and technology blog Mashable reports that blogger Noah Kravitz has settled the lawsuit filed by his former employer, mobile tech blog PhoneDog, over the Twitter followers Kravitz kept when he left PhoneDog in October 2010 and changed his Twitter account from @phonedog_noah to a more personal @noahkravitz. The original complaint filed in the Northern District of California in July 2011 alleged that Kravitz' keeping the Twitter followers constituted misappropriation of trade secrets, intentional interference with prospective economic advantage, and other business torts. According to Mashable, the case has been settled through mediation.

The issue of ownership of a company's online resources, particularly those created and built by former employees on their own initiatives, is not new; in the mid-nineties, the New York Post had a dispute over the NYPost.com domain name with Farhan Memon, a former freelancer who had registered it during his work for the Post, and MTV had a similar conflict with its former VJ Adam Curry over the MTV.com domain Curry had registered. The Kravitz case, though, serves as a reminder that whenever an organization is being represented through an online presence, it needs to create and enforce clear guidelines in advance over who controls that presence, which should include ensuring that a single employee's departure (willing or otherwise) does not impede the organization's online efforts.