Ride the Lightning

Cybersecurity and Future of Law Practice Blog
by Sharon D. Nelson Esq., President of Sensei Enterprises, Inc.

Twitter's Transparency Reports Deserve Applause!

January 31, 2013

Hat tip to John for passing along Twitter's Transparency Report for the second half of 2012. It is terrific that Twitter gives us a snapshot of government information requests.

Here are the highlights. In the U.S., there were 815 requests for information. 60% were subpoenas, 11% were court orders, 19% were search warrants and 10% were in the "other" category, which includes emergency disclosure requests from law enforcement and requests without valid legal process.

Also of note:

  • 20% of the requests were under seal, meaning that Twitter could not notify the users whose information was requested.
  • 24% of the requests resulted in the users being notified of the requests.
  • 56% of the requests were not under seal and users were not notified, either because the request was withdrawn, was defective or was an emergency disclosure request.

And if you want to know about Twitter's guidelines for dealing with law enforcement requests for information, they have published those as well.

Bravo Twitter!

E-mail:         Phone: 703-359-0700

www.senseient.com

http://twitter.com/sharonnelsonesq