Of interest to journalism should be a U.S. court case that is setting some new boundaries on the degree of privacy and legal obligation for Tweets.
In this case, a New York court has ruled that Twitter must release about three months of Tweets from Occupy movement protester Malcolm Harris. Police argue those Tweets would help in their cases.
The case is of significance because only now are courts beginning to identify the extent to which prosecutors and defendants have rights to social media. Are they someone's personal property, protected by the terms of service of a social media platform? Or are they public and subject to prosecutorial whim?
Many media have weighed in, but this Christian Science Monitor item has a strong sense of the issue's context.
In this case, a New York court has ruled that Twitter must release about three months of Tweets from Occupy movement protester Malcolm Harris. Police argue those Tweets would help in their cases.
The case is of significance because only now are courts beginning to identify the extent to which prosecutors and defendants have rights to social media. Are they someone's personal property, protected by the terms of service of a social media platform? Or are they public and subject to prosecutorial whim?
Many media have weighed in, but this Christian Science Monitor item has a strong sense of the issue's context.
