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Privacy

by Mike Masnick

Mon, May 23rd 2011 6:46am




Filed Under:
government, privacy, subpoena, wikileaks

Companies:
aclu, eff, twitter, wikileaks


ACLU And EFF Want To Find Out Who Rolled Over When Gov't Came Calling For Info About Wikileaks

from the who-didn't-protect-its-users dept

While there's been plenty of attention paid to the US government's attempt, using a 2703(d) order (sorta like a subpoena, but not quite), to get info from Twitter on certain users who had a connection to Wikileaks, one of things that we pointed out at the time was the only reason we knew about the orders to Twitter was because Twitter fought the order. We wondered who else received such orders and just rolled over and handed over the data.

It appears that the ACLU and the EFF are asking the same question.

While (of course) it would appear that such info is being kept totally secret by the US government, those two organizations scanned the case numbers to determine that it appears four other similar orders were issued at the same time as Twitter's order -- and they'd like to know who those orders went to, in order to defend the users' right to privacy. The argument seems pretty sound here. Since these users are currently fighting the government's attempt to have Twitter hand over their info, shouldn't they have the right to fight against other services handing over their info?

Of course, the end result of this will almost certainly be a revelation of which four online services simply rolled over rather than defending their users' rights. Anyone want to take guesses as to who's on that list?


23 Comments | Leave a Comment

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(Flattened / Threaded)

  1.  
    icon
    martyburns (profile), May 23rd, 2011 @ 6:52am

    Skype, Facebook MySpace?

    Those are my votes..

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  
    icon
    martyburns (profile), May 23rd, 2011 @ 6:53am

    Re: Skype, Facebook MySpace?

    oh, and LinkedIn.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  
    identicon
    ts, May 23rd, 2011 @ 7:00am

    Was it Sony?

    Oh wait, Sony doesn't give out customer info.. they just let people come in and take what they want.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  4.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, May 23rd, 2011 @ 7:19am

    "Of course, the end result of this will almost certainly be a revelation of which four online services simply rolled over rather than defending their users' rights."

    Wikileaks?

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  6.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, May 23rd, 2011 @ 7:27am

    I'm guessing it was Facebook, Facebook, Facebook, and Facebook.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  7.  
    icon
    Dark Helmet (profile), May 23rd, 2011 @ 7:31am

    France?

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  8.  
    icon
    Capitalist Lion Tamer (profile), May 23rd, 2011 @ 7:39am

    Re:

    But they spoofed themselves as "Belgium."

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  9.  
    icon
    Vincent Clement (profile), May 23rd, 2011 @ 7:48am

    On one hand, politicians publicly chastise corporations for privacy intrusions and policies. Then, on the other hand, they don't stop government agencies from trampling all over the privacy of a user.

    "Hey, Sony and Facebook, we are mad at you for the hacks and privacy intrusions and poor privacy policies. Bad bad companies. Oh, while we have you here, we have to give you these 2703(d) orders. And if the police knock on your door, don't make any noise, since that is all the justification they need to enter your office. Thanks."

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  10.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, May 23rd, 2011 @ 7:54am

    Techdirt
    Masnick, you doomed us all!

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  11.  
    icon
    Nom du Clavier (profile), May 23rd, 2011 @ 8:08am

    Re: Re:

    You really shouldn't use that word except in a serious screenplay.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  12.  
    identicon
    Friendly Stalker, May 23rd, 2011 @ 8:16am

    My bets are on....

    Jacob and Birgitta use gmail and other google services heavily. I would bet google rolled over, or made the govt request the data in a different manner. The google datastore is just too good and big to pass up. Jacob has an android phone, who is his phone company?

    These are the places to start first.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  13.  
    identicon
    MAC, May 23rd, 2011 @ 8:30am

    Freedom...

    Those who are willing to trade Freedom for security deserve neither.

    Benjamin Franklin

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  14.  
    identicon
    CommonSense, May 23rd, 2011 @ 8:33am

    Re:

    It's what I like to call, the Nixon Complex. Politicians want to fix everything wrong with the world, but when they get into office, they forget to look at themselves as something wrong with the world. They think that if it's them doing something, it can't be wrong.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  15.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, May 23rd, 2011 @ 9:04am

    AOL, MySpace, Yahoo Buzz, and ConnectU are the most likely culprits.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  16.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, May 23rd, 2011 @ 9:34am

    Re: My bets are on....

    The Goog is first on my list as well. Facebook is #2.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  17.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, May 23rd, 2011 @ 10:34am

    Re: Re: Re:

    Which one? spoof or Belgium?

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  18.  
    icon
    Nom du Clavier (profile), May 23rd, 2011 @ 11:48am

    Re: Re: Re: Re:

    Belgium, per Douglas Adams' eternal words of wisdom. (section E4.1 of the FAQ)

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  19.  
    identicon
    And another stalker, May 23rd, 2011 @ 11:54am

    Re: My bets are on....

    Jacob Appelbaum has a secret Twitter account, "rorreoi", that is not listed on the subpoena. It's also doesn't show up on Google when you search for "Jacob Appelbaum, Twitter". You only get the "ioerror" account, and the "rorreoi" one (with is ioerror in reverse) does not show up at all.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  20.  
    identicon
    duh, May 23rd, 2011 @ 11:58am

    Re: Re: My bets are on....

    way to ruin that

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  21.  
    icon
    Bnesaladur (profile), May 23rd, 2011 @ 6:20pm

    Re: Re: Re: My bets are on....

    yeah no kidding. thanks for the help tips.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  22.  
    identicon
    Joe Nonsense, May 25th, 2011 @ 2:50pm

    You guys are thinking too smalll...

    TimeWarner, Comcast, Verizon, and Google.

    Bet on it.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  23.  
    identicon
    Joe Nonsnse, May 25th, 2011 @ 2:53pm

    I just notice the phrase "online services"

    In that case, Google, Digg, Reddit, and Facebook.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


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