A Data Handover
June 22, 2011
In “Twitter and Google Hand Over Data: We’re All Newspapers Now,” PocketLint examines changes in how Twitter and Google now respond to requests from authorities for details about their users.
Two Twitter-related cases in England, one that had the “South Tyneside council acquiring Twitter data connected to someone who had published potentially libelous statements on a blog,” are examined. Google is facing a court order that will require it to hand over emails deleted by (celebrity chef) Gordon Ramsay’s father in law Chris Hutchinson.
“For some this (ability to identify users) is reassuring, after all the anonymity available with the Internet can pose legitimate threats and opportunities for many to act unpleasantly or even illegally and without punishment.”
While some might like it, the long view of these developments has to make you ask how much data will be provided, ie all of John Doe’s e-mail, all of John Doe’s e-mail to Jane Doe, or John Doe’s April 15, 9:42am e-mail to Jane Doe, and once that data is released, where does the go and who’s reading their contents?
These are questions that perhaps need to be asked and answered.
Stephen E. Arnold, June 22, 2011
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One Response to “A Data Handover”
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It’s scary to think that the government can even think of demanding such sensitive data. I hope Google, like it has many times in the past, resists such blatant acts against its users’ privacy.