DOING THE RIGHT THING

Twitter Distinguishes Itself As Tech Darling Deserving Of Adulation

By Elizabeth C.

NOW COMES WORD THAT TWITTER MAY HAS DISTINGUISHED ITSELF AMONG THE BIG THREE SOCIAL MEDIA GIANTS AS BEING respectful of users' rights to privacy.

The San Francisco micro blogging platform has legally challenged a U.S. government order to provide details of account activities of Julian Assange, U.S. Army Pfc. Bradley Manning and three WikiLeaks activists without informing the account holders.

"It appears that Twitter, as a matter of policy, does the right thing in wanting to inform their users when one of these comes in," said Rop Gonggrijp, a WikiLeaks computer programmer.

"Heaven knows how many places have received similar subpoenas and just quietly submitted all they had on me."

Even WikiLeaks' critics have reacted with stinging criticism to the U.S. government's requests. The UK's Telegraph, no fan of Assange and his secrets-busting group, harrumped in a headline: "Obama, Holdren – get your filthy hands off Twitter!"

According to Salon, which has received a copy of the order, the US is seeking "alll mailing addresses and billing information known for the user, all connection records and session times, all IP addresses used to access Twitter, all known email accounts, as well as the "means and source of payment," including banking records and credit cards" for the period starting Nov. 1 2009.

Twitter was ordered to keep the demand a secret, but the San Francisco-based tech company challenged that order in court resulting in the government's attempts being made public.

Facebook has refused to answer if it has been served or complied with a similar order.

Assange blasted the government's fishing expedition in a statement. "If the Iranian government was to attempt to coercively obtain this information from journalists and activists of foreign nations, human rights groups around the world would speak out." he said.

The order seems to confirm the existence of a secret government grand jury investigating criminal charges of espionage against Assange.

"I think I am being given a message, almost like someone breathing in a phone,"
tweeted Icelandic MP Brigitta Jonsdottir, who is among those targeted in the probe.

She also tweeted, “Do they realize I am a member of parliament in Iceland?"

Jonsdittir was involved in the production of the video production Collateral Murder, showing U.S. air gunners executing without provocation Iraqi men and two Reuters photographers.