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Thank Twitter For Standing Up For User Rights

from the they-earned-it dept

Tue, May 15th 2012 8:42pm — Mike Masnick

We recently wrote about Twitter's decision to stand up for a user in court, fighting against a court ruling that said that a user has no proprietary interest in their own tweets and info, such that those users cannot contest a government attempt to subpoena information from Twitter. This is not the first time that Twitter has aggressively stood up for its users' rights against government excess -- in a world where that's quite rare. When the government comes calling, most companies roll right over. In response to this, the folks over at Fight for the Future have put together a petition page, asking people to sign up to thank Twitter. If they get 50,000 people to sign, they'll present Twitter with a medal for defending the internet (these medals are awesome).

Given that internet petitions are often done in protest of something or against something, I really like this idea of effectively getting people to sign on for something positive and celebrate a company that does its best to protect the interests of its users. If you agree, head on over and sign up to thank Twitter.

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Filed Under: medal, petition, subpoena, thank you
Companies: twitter

38 Comments

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Jem, 15 May 2012 @ 9:24pm

A great idea, but ...
You can't sign this without a US zip code, which is very un-Internet.
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sahdblunders (profile), 15 May 2012 @ 10:22pm

I did it...
Anyone that will stand up about invasion of privacy I applaud. I have a 3 year old son and would like to think by me signing it I am helping his future.....I let twitter know I am glad they are on our side :)
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zub, 15 May 2012 @ 10:50pm

Re: A great idea, but ...
Yup, I looked at the form and realized it's not for me.
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FuzzyDuck, 15 May 2012 @ 11:02pm

Re: A great idea, but ...
> You can't sign this without a US zip code, which is very un-Internet.

You don't need a US zipcode, I just signed with my non-US zip code. For clarification I added my country to the address line.
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Anonymous Coward, 16 May 2012 @ 12:06am

Re: Re: A great idea, but ...
tried that - didn't work. put UK in address line - invalid zip code when blank or not
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mrdarkrai (profile), 16 May 2012 @ 12:21am

I didn't use a zip code :/
It auto filled (chrome) part of my street address, it took.
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drew (profile), 16 May 2012 @ 12:35am

Re: Re: Re: A great idea, but ...
Yep, same for me, won't accept my address. Turns out it will accept 90210 though... ;�)
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OO, 16 May 2012 @ 1:20am

So why do they need all this info?
I didn't check to see if a valid US Zipcode was required (which I don't have anyway), simply because when I saw the personal data they were asking me to hand over to them to just 'thank Twitter'. Screw that.
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Squig (profile), 16 May 2012 @ 1:24am

Re: Re: Re: Re: A great idea, but ...
My German address did not work neither...
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Anonymous Coward, 16 May 2012 @ 1:57am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: A great idea, but ...
So what? They want your email, if you wanna give it to them, give it, otherwise don't.
Personally, I think its worth it to encourage those companies who have the guts to kick the bullies in the shins.
I live in China so I just picked a random zip code in google.
It worked!
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Benjamin, 16 May 2012 @ 2:36am

Not for me (censorship in France)
Sorry, but that's not for me: Twitter seems to be a dual-headed centralized-service monster as any other one (google, facebook & al.)

in France, we had many twitter account, not all of them were parodic one, (they were politely critical of the government behavior) that where destroyed without breaking any rules and, of course, without any explanation or possibility to get them back.

so, that other story is nice, yes, but only enough for me to applaud with one hand, which makes not much noise ;)
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Alasdair Fox (profile), 16 May 2012 @ 2:45am

Fight for the Future:
Tip for the future.. Twitter is not US only, the rest of the world uses it too, and may wish to thank twitter as well.
Otherwise, good idea.
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ColinCowpat (profile), 16 May 2012 @ 3:23am

Fail
I'd like to thank Twitter but can't as my UK postcode isn't a recognised ZIP code on that vote site. There are actually appreciative users beyond the US coastline you know...
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Anonymous Coward, 16 May 2012 @ 3:50am

they didnt stand up for the user, twits on rules say they own your tweets, so the man has no standing to protect them, they need to prove to the court that Twitter has to provide the info, twit is protecting itself, not the user

let me guess? privacy?? since when is something said to the public in a public format, that you have rights not to have those used against you??

your on the wrong soapbox again
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Anonymous Coward, 16 May 2012 @ 4:00am

Thanks for requiring US zipcodes, enjoy my non-signature. ;/
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martyburns (profile), 16 May 2012 @ 4:28am

Re: Re: Re: Re: A great idea, but ...
LOL :-)

Thats what I always use when I need to enter one too..
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Uth (profile), 16 May 2012 @ 4:36am

5 numbers for "normal" country is the zip code :)
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Ninja (profile), 16 May 2012 @ 4:39am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: A great idea, but ...
Beverly Hills must have shitloads of residents lmao
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Anonymous Coward, 16 May 2012 @ 5:06am

You must me mad if you think twitter is helping to protect your privacy, absolutly mad. they dont accept uk postcodes
because we already know they'll sell you out in a second.
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Gothenem (profile), 16 May 2012 @ 5:10am

Re: A great idea, but ...
Meh, I just used my default of 11111 as a zip code. It doesn't accept canadian postal codes.
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Anonymous Coward, 16 May 2012 @ 5:12am

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-17515992

this guy says thanks to twitter.

thanks twitter you rock.
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Greg G (profile), 16 May 2012 @ 5:32am

To everyone saying you can't do it because you don't have a US post/zip code: Just enter any 5 digits!

The only *real* bit of info you need to enter is your email address as it does make you confirm it via an email that is sent to you.
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Michael, 16 May 2012 @ 5:54am

Re: Not for me (censorship in France)
That's very sad.

Actually, what's perhaps more sad is the fact that we're now reduced to handing out awards to private companies simply for standing up and protecting our right to privacy from the government whose job it is, supposedly, to UPHOLD AND PROTECT OUR RIGHTS.
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Joshua Blount (profile), 16 May 2012 @ 6:07am

Re: A great idea, but ...
Sorry about that Jem, we didn't realize that non-US zip codes would break the form. I've updated it so that you can either not put in a zip code or use a non-US zip code, both should work.

Thanks!
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Joshua Blount (profile), 16 May 2012 @ 6:09am

Re:
Thanks for the tip :)

This was an oversight on my part (I'm the developer over at FFTF). The form is updated now to happily take non-US zip codes as well as no zip code at all.

Sorry about that!
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Joshua Blount (profile), 16 May 2012 @ 6:10am

Re: Fail
Sorry ColinCowpat! That was my mistake. The form is updated now to accept non-US zip codes.
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Anonymous Coward, 16 May 2012 @ 7:29am

How pathetically naive and stupid
Really? A medal?

The only reason Twitter did this is that it's good for Twitter. That's it. The fact that it accidentally works out in favor of users is just that: an accident.

And yet you clowns want to give them a medal for it?

Please. Go home. You're far too naive and stupid to be playing this game.
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Bas Grasmayer (profile), 16 May 2012 @ 7:42am

Re: A great idea, but ...
They let you choose different countries now and zip codes are optional.

Also, unfortunately this is not very un-Internet, but it should be.
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Bas Grasmayer (profile), 16 May 2012 @ 7:45am

Re: How pathetically naive and stupid
This game can be played from home too. The internet can be accessed from almost everywhere. Pro tip.
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drew (profile), 16 May 2012 @ 9:13am

Re: How pathetically naive and stupid
Alternatively you could reward the behaviours you like to see and maybe companies will start to adopt those behaviours. Bit like training animals really...
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drew (profile), 16 May 2012 @ 9:14am

Re: Re: A great idea, but ...
Thanks Joshua!
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Anonymous Coward, 16 May 2012 @ 1:03pm

they aren't animals they are inteligent humans and they know how to behave believe me.
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Jeremy (profile), 16 May 2012 @ 2:40pm

Broken link?
The link to the thank you page for me looks like:

http://a.fightforthefuture.org/sign/thank_you_twitter

But when I click on it I'm getting host not found?

-Jeremy
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Anonymous Coward, 16 May 2012 @ 9:14pm

Re: Re: Not for me (censorship in France)
This.

I put a lot more faith in the ACLU and EFF and their ilk than I do in either large companies or government these days. I simply don't trust any group of people making lots of money who can hide behind a faceless bureaucratic mask. It breeds disregard for other human beings.
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Anonymous Coward, 16 May 2012 @ 9:20pm

Re:
I think you missed a point in there. The government is also asking for identifying information that is not publicly available, and it's saying the user has no right to file a motion in court to quash the subpoena. Normally, you and I do have that right. (Whether we'd win or not is another point entirely.) However, lately the government has taken to serving companies quietly and ignoring users, trying to get the companies to violate their own terms of service and just hand over the data without alerting users at all. Not okay.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 May 2012 @ 6:23am

PR damage-control spin
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Richard, 18 May 2012 @ 8:10pm

For greater effectiveness, it might be useful to have a means where persons can send personalized messages of thanks, as such messages may carry more weight than merely providing a name and location information.
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Nitesh Kumar, 25 May 2012 @ 4:46am

Then why they blocked @opindia_revenge
https://twitter.com/#!/opindia_revenge
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