By Kim Davis
Twitter Fights For Your Rights Says EFF
If you were concerned about
Twitter handing over your private data to the government think again.
In a surprising report released yesterday digital rights watchdog the
Electronic Freedom Foundation awarded Twitter their maximum score for protecting user data. The EFF evaluated the commitment to user privacy of 18 major technology services by reviewing their published policies and their public record.
For all the
recent complaints about account security Twitters defense against government and law enforcement requests was the most robust of the providers surveyed.
MySpace and
Verizon failed the test miserably. Here are the six criteria by which they were judged:
- Warrant required for content of communications.
- Informs users of data requests.
- Publishes transparency reports.
- Has a published policy for responding to government data requests.
- Public record of defending users rights in court.
- Public record of defending users rights in Congress.
Of those criteria the first two are crucial. Requiring the government (or its agents) to show probable cause and telling the alerting affected users are fundamental to taking privacy seriously. The other four points are excellent add-ons. Twitter bats 1.000; MySpace and Verizon strike out six times.
But how about the other usual suspects?
Sonic.net may not have as high a profile as Twitter but it too goes the full distance in protecting user rights. Seven of the 18 ace those first two crucial tests.
Who doesnt? In addition to MySpace and Verizon these vendors are taking the walk of shame:
- Apple
- Amazon
- AT&T
- Comcast
- Yahoo!
You can see the results at a glance
here but the
full report is worth reading.
Despite those notable turkeys the EFFs gloss on its findings is quite positive. More providers are informing users of government data requests now and practices like publishing transparency reports are becoming industry standards. But theres still
much to do:
Amazon holds huge quantities of information as part of its cloud computing services and retail operations yet does not promise to inform users when their data is sought by the government produce annual transparency reports or publish a law enforcement guide. Facebook has yet to publish a transparency report. Yahoo! has a public record of standing up for user privacy in courts but it hasnt earned recognition in any of our other categories. Apple and AT&T are members of the Digital Due Process coalition but dont observe any of the other best practices were measuring.
A timely wake-up call. Do these findings surprise you and is the EFF focused on the right criteria?
