Tweeting to the Government-Who’s Looking at Your Account

It was in 2009 that the United States federal government declared January 28th of every year to be “Data Privacy Day.” It was designed to be a day when the government wanted American citizens who use the Internet to be aware of the dangers of posting private information on social networking pages and on other websites.

The fourth anniversary of the first “Data Privacy Day” was January 28, 2013, and it looks like the emphasis has shifted from people protecting themselves from criminals to asking questions about why the government is trying to invade people’s privacy.

The Twitter Factor

Twitter is one of the largest social networking platforms in the world. It has millions of users that can be found in just about any country that has the Internet. One of the reasons that Twitter is so popular is because it allows people to post instant information about current topics. Sports starts can tweet about the games they are currently playing and movie stars can post information directly from the set of their latest movie. Not only can people post current information, anyone reading those posts can respond as well. Twitter has become a place where people give a new recipe for great nachos that they just learned, and where criminals speak in code to each other. It is a social media sensation that continues to grow.

Invasion Of Your Privacy

What many people may not realize is that Internet information giants such as Twitter and Google receive requests from the federal government, and state governments, regarding user information. It should be noted that a government agency cannot just ask for your account information. It needs to get either a search warrant, subpoena or an emergency court order. It should also be noted that Twitter does not need to respond to those requests. There are ways that Twitter can deny the government the information it requests. From July 2012 to December 2012, Twitter received 815 requests for information from government agencies. The types of requests were:

• 60 percent by subpoena
• 19 percent by search warrants
• 11 percent by court order
• 10 percent by other means such as direct request

In these cases, Twitter supplied the requested information in only 69 percent of the cases.

Who Is The Government Watching?

While the common response to these kinds of events is to assume that the big eye in the sky is watching everyone, the federal and state governments usually request information on very specific people. Twitter was one of the vehicles used to help organize the Occupy Movement that spread across the country and the world in 2012. People with laptops and Blackberry phones were using Twitter to send messages that were both open and coded. When the government agencies were able to identify some of the main players in the Occupy Movement, it requested information from Twitter on the manner in which these people communicated across the social media platform. In other cases, the government will use Twitter information to try and build a case against a suspected terrorist or terrorist cell operating in the United States.

Twitter’s Response

It is important to keep the facts straight when talking about important legal matters. One of the common misconceptions that people have is that Twitter, and any Internet social media platform, will willingly divulge information that is requested of it as soon as an official document arrives at the Twitter headquarters. As we discussed earlier, Twitter released information in less than 70 percent of the cases in which the government made requests. The management and legal team at Twitter take the personal privacy of its members very seriously. Twitter is trying to get Congress to introduce laws that would severely limit the kinds of information that Twitter, and other social media outlets, would have to release in the case of an official government request.

Transparency

Twitter has launched a crusade that works to turn the tables on government agencies who attempt to be clandestine in their requests for information. The social networking giant has started a website that gives detailed data on what kinds of requests the government is making from Twitter, how the requests are being made and Twitter’s response. As the front page of the website states, Twitter believes in the ability for people to be able to openly exchange information without the threat of government intervention. There is a scorecard on the front of the site that gives a quick summary of government requests for information and then detailed articles written by Twitter’s legal team. It is a resource that allows Twitter users to see exactly what kind of information the government is trying to get and what Twitter is doing to protect its users’ personal privacy.

A Bit Of Hypocrisy

The federal government has become increasingly interested in reaching the American public through social mediums such as Twitter. President Obama hailed the power of the Internet as a way for people to exchange information and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been embracing Twitter specifically as a way to inform people of her public appearances. As the government looks to crack down on Twitter users on the one hand, it turns to Twitter as a way to spread its message to the people. The hypocrisy is not lost on the legal team at Twitter.

Protecting Yourself

Twitter is already taking up the fight for privacy rights for its clients, but there are things that people can do to help protect themselves from a government investigation. The most obvious way to protect your private information is to not post it on the Internet. Another way to protect yourself is to not use Twitter as you personal message platform. It is important to understand that Twitter is an open forum and the things you post could come back to haunt you.

Twitter has millions of users that rely on it to protect their personal privacy. As the federal and state governments step up the pressure to extract your personal information from Twitter, the social media giant is fighting just as hard to keep your data private.

About the Author:

DJ Miller is a graduate student at the University of Tampa. He is an avid gadget geek who spends most his time writing on anything tech related. In his spare time he likes to travel, play soccer, and watch movies. You can follow him on twitter @MillerHeWrote.

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