Uncle Sam Wants Your Twitter Data

[Karloff]

Uncle Sam Wants Your Twitter Data

Twitter has published its first Transparency Report, showing you which governments want your user information.

In honor of the 4th of July, Twitter has decided to produce its first Transparency Report. The Report - designed much like Google's own publicly accessible database [http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/] - shows Twitter users how many user information requests each country makes, how many removal requests, and how many of each are granted. American Twitter users should pay close attention, as Uncle Sam is by far the most aggressive seeker after data.

Twitter's information [https://support.twitter.com/articles/20170002#] stretches back over the last six months - from 1st January to 30th June - and their chart shows that most countries make 10 or fewer user information requests. Japan is a little nosier, and made 98 requests over the period. However its activity level is bush league compared to the demands of the US Federal Government, which has made 679 requests in the last six months alone. About 75% of those requests - affecting 948 individual accounts - were granted.

Bear in mind, there have been only 849 requests total according to Twitter's data. That means that the US requests make up almost 80% of the world's user information demands. Twitter intends to keep publishing Transparency Reports every six months.

It is probably no coincidence that Twitter compiled and published this chart now, as the Occupy Wall Street protest cases are coming to judgement [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/115602-Twitter-Subpoenaed-in-Occupy-Wall-Street-Case]. Issues of privacy are at the heart of those cases, but so far the courts have been ruling against the defendants and allowing the seizure of tweets.

Source: Guardian [http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/jul/02/twitter-transparency-report]

Image: Twitter [https://support.twitter.com/articles/20170002#]

Permalink

 

[Xanthious]

This is what you get when you get into Facebook, Twitter, or any other worthless form of social media used to make your otherwise mundane life seem overly important in your own eyes. The sad truth of the matter is that 99.999% of people's lives aren't interesting enough to warrant a haiku nevermind something like Facebook or Twitter.


That being said though, if you absolutely feel the need to engage in social media maybe you shouldn't be putting things on there that can later be used to incriminate you. Christ you'd think people would realize by now that it's hard, if not impossible, to take something off the internet once you put it on there.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

I don't post anything on Twitter that could get me into trouble with the government, unless drawings of dragons are somehow illegal now.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

Why was the US's success rate for demanding user information so high? They made 80% of all requests, but have a 75% success rate for achieving those requests. The nearest to them are the Netherlands with 50%, Japan and Greece with 33%, and the rest below 20. How did they manage that? Where they strong arming or were all their requests justified?

 

[The.Bard]

I have a few friends that look at me funny for not "checking in" everywhere I go. And these are the same people who were annoyed when it was revealed that cops could take iphone data and find out every place the thing has ever been since they bought it.

How can you get mad over cops grabbing your entire gps history when you are spitting it out freely for anyone who knows you and their neighbor?

 

[Albino Boo]

And people look at ME funny when I tell them I don't have a twitter account. Anonymity is your FRIEND!

Captcha: Panic Stations
friggin alarmist

Yeah there are 107 million twitter users in the US, so clearly the 649 requests represents unprecedented levels of big brotherness by the state. You are more likely to get shot by the police than having your tweets checked.

 

[UNHchabo]

My guess is that most Twitter accounts are in the US, hence why the US has such high numbers, and that the US government has the greatest chance of issuing a subpoena that correctly requests information from a US company, hence why the "success" rate is higher.

There are other possible explanations, but it's a simple explanation, so it has a decent chance of being true.

 

[Roboto]

And people look at ME funny when I tell them I don't have a twitter account. Anonymity is your FRIEND!

Captcha: Panic Stations
friggin alarmist

Yeah there are 107 million twitter users in the US, so clearly the 649 requests represents unprecedented levels of big brotherness by the state. You are more likely to get shot by the police than having your tweets checked.

Not going to say ninja'd since you matched my sentiments exactly and saved me some time.

That doesn't even qualify under rare-disease levels, and even then the extremely rare disease doesn't have 100% mortality rate.

If one of the hundreds of millions of tweets says "I'm going to kill everyone at school lol" then yes it will be checked and handed over.

Barking Mad is the captcha today, the third one I've filled out the last 12 hours >:-(

 

[Saulkar]

I do not use twitter, ever, of all time.

 

[Steve the Pocket]

Yeah there are 107 million twitter users in the US, so clearly the 649 requests represents unprecedented levels of big brotherness by the state. You are more likely to get shot by the police than having your tweets checked.

I won't bother to look up the statistics on police shootings, but that's an excellent thing to compare it to if you want to put it perspective. Especially since the article brought up the Occupy protests, something that's gotten people shot by cops from what I hear.