Twitter claims to be one of the most loyal company to governments

There has been lots of censhorship strategies deployed by government in most of the leading countries. People are already standing out to protest the steps taken by government for internet censorship. The worst thing is that most of our favorite social networking websites are following the orders by the people governing the different countries.

Twitter released its first transparency report Monday - focused on several matters relating to users freedom to post what they want : how frequently governments around the world ask for Twitter users account details; how often Twitter complies with those requests; and how many copyright complaints it recieves and grants to content-owning companies.

According to twitter their goal is to grow the commnity in a way that makes them proud and they want to inform its user that Twitter does stick to their words -- "free speech for all" , but it has some exceptions which is necessary to make the service available for everyone. 

Twitter wrote on their blog:

One example is our long-standing policy to proactively notify users of requests for their account information unless we’re prohibited by law; another example is transmitting DMCA takedown notices and requests to withhold content to Chilling Effects. These policies help inform people, increase awareness and hold all involved parties––including ourselves––more accountable; the release of our first Transparency Report aims to further these ambitions.

Twitter has responded to requests for 1,181 users' information thus far in 2012, the report reveals. The vast majority of those were inside the U.S. Overall, in 63% of cases, some form of user info was handed over. (In U.S. cases, that rose to 75%.)
The company was at pains to point out that it informs users when they've been asked to hand over details, except where prohibited by law. It also trumpeted the fact that it has acceded to no government requests for outright censorship of tweets. (Law enforcement in five countries asked for that.)

Here’s the data, which dates back to January 1, 2012. You can also find these tables, along with more information about the data, in twitter's Help Center.

 

 

 

 

When New York reaffirmed that Twitter needed to hand over details on Occupy Wall Street protestor Malcolm Harristo the state Attorney General’s office.

Twitter reaffirmed that users owned their content, and said it was “considering our options” when it came to a legal response.

The timing is especially ironic, as that case — which is being closely watched as a barometer of Twitter’s commitment to user privacy — is a criminal investigation. Twitter attempted to mitigate the number of government requests it acceded to by pointing out, in this Help Center article, that those requests were “typically in connection with criminal investigations or cases.”

Along with publishing our Transparency Report, we're also partnering with Herdict, which "collects and disseminates real-time, crowdsourced information about Internet filtering, denial of service attacks, and other blockages." This new partnership aims to drive more traffic and exposure to Herdict, while also empowering the web community at large to help keep an eye on whether users can access Twitter around the world.

Is Twitter doing enough to protect user privacy? What data should the company offer in its next report? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.