‏إظهار الرسائل ذات التسميات government censorship. إظهار كافة الرسائل
‏إظهار الرسائل ذات التسميات government censorship. إظهار كافة الرسائل

6/07/2013

#Twitter notably absent from #NSA #PRISM list


Twitter was notably missing from a leaked list of Internet giants reported to be cooperating with The National Security Agency and the FBI on the surveillance program dubbed PRISM.
Those agencies are siphoning data from the servers of nine U.S. Internet companies including Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube and Apple, according to news reports about the documents. The cloud storage device Dropbox was described as "coming soon," along with other unidentified firms.
Google and Apple have both denied any knowledge of PRISM. Apple stated "any government agency requesting customer data must get a court order." Google said "we disclose user data to government in accordance with the law, and we review all such requests carefully.
There may be two explanations for Twitter's absence.
Twitter has a history of noncompliance and fighting information requests against its users. That may, in part, explain its absence from the list of companies disclosed Thursday. The leaks were reported by The Washington Post and The Guardian.
--> The microblogging service notably defended Malcolm Harris last year. He was being prosecuted by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office on allegations of disorderly conduct related to an Occupy Wall Street protest on the Brooklyn Bridge.
In that instance, Twitter filed a motion in state court in New York in an effort to quash a court order asking it to turn over his communications on Twitter.
"As we've said many times before, Twitter users own their Tweets. They have a right to fight invalid government requests, and we stand with them in that fight. We appealed the Harris decision because it didn't strike the right balance between the rights of users and the interests of law enforcement," said Twitter spokesman Jim Prosser.
--> -->
Twitter is also currently embroiled in another legal skirmish to uphold the rights of user privacy. It's fighting a battle in France to not turn over information about users connected to complaints from a private French Jewish students group regarding anti-Semitic content.
Twitter's Prosser points out that the company tries to be transparent with its semi-annual Transparency Report on government requests.
Another explanation for Twitter's absense is that the bulk of its data — aside from direct messages — is publicly available in the form of tweets. That separates it from the likes of Yahoo and Google, which house years of personal emails and data on people.





5/17/2013

#Saudi Arabia Religious Police Say Twitter Is the Path to Hell

Hell is other Twitter users — according to the head of Saudi Arabia's religious police force, anyway.
Sheikh Abdul Latif Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh said Wednesday that Muslims who use Twitter or other social media have "lost this world and his afterlife," as quoted by BBC News.

Saudi Arabia has a complicated relationship with social media as its usage skyrockets in the country. However, the Saudi government is worried social media could help the political opposition in the country organize in spread, similar to the ways it has been used throughout the Middle East and elsewhere.
"The Kingdom is particularly concerned with how Twitter has been used to keep people informed of human rights activists who have been tried for the crime of free speech," writes Jonathan Turley, professor of law at The George Washington University Law School. "Leaders on the web have been detained while others have been charged with apostasy and other crimes for statements made on these sites."
Software engineer Moxie Marlinspike recently alleged in a blog post that Saudi Arabia wants the ability to spy on Twitter and such popular messaging services as Viber and WhatsApp.
Several years ago, Saudi Arabia threatened to ban BlackBerry devices unless the company made it easier for the government to read users' messages. The company reportedly decided to comply with those demands.
Other religious figures, including the Dalai Lama and the Pope, have embraced social media to varying degrees as a way to spread their message or connect with those inside and outside their faith. Can religion and social media mix? Share your thoughts in the comments.
-->