Twitter to notify users suspected of breaching super injunction before handing over details
Twitter is expected to notify the users accused of breaching privacy injunctions ahead of handing over their personal information to authorities.
According to The Guardian, the general manager of European operations for Twitter, Tony Wang, spoke at the G8 internet forum in Paris yesterday and discussed the legal action taken after its users openly discussed the identity of footballer Ryan Giggs in connection with an alleged affair with former Big Brother contestant Imogen Thomas, despite an injunction preventing his name from being published, had been passed.
This led to lawyers announcing that they would take legal action against the social networking site on behalf to obtain the identities of the users passing on the information.
Wang said: "Platforms should have responsibility not to defend the user, but to protect that user's right to defend him or herself."
He added that if the company was legally required then it would hand over what user information it could, but that it would wish to notify them first and let them know that they could exercise their own rights.
"That's not to say that they will ultimately prevail, that's not to say that law enforcement doesn't get the information they need, but what it does do is take that process into the court of law and let it play out there.,” he added.
Following this, Twitter’s general counsel Alexander Macgillivray explained that the company’s policy was to notify users and that it had fought to ensure user rights.
“Sadly, some more interested in headlines than accuracy,” he added.
As a result of the court order, Twitter could be forced to hand over the names, email addresses and IP addresses of each users, with tens of thousands thought to have allegedly exposed the details of the extra-marital affair online.