Twitter hands over Occupy Wall Street protestor's updates under pressure

Twitter has been building a modest reputation for siding with the little guy (or girl) when it comes to communication privacy, and it just demonstrated how far it's willing to go in a showdown with Manhattan's Criminal Court over a demand to hand over tweets from Occupy Wall Street protestor Malcolm Harris. The social network has been pushed into delivering the claimed evidence, but only as it faced a deadline and the threat of a fine -- it even tried one last request for a stay before producing hard copies of the messages. However much the handover affects Harris' chances at winning during trial, it emphasizes that public posts have serious consequences -- companies ultimately can't shield you from the law.

[Image credit: Paul Stein, Flickr]

Filed under: Internet, Alt

Twitter hands over Occupy Wall Street protestor's updates under pressure originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Sep 2012 13:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.