Inspired by Google, Twitter has released its first annual Twitter Transparency Report, with the intention of ensuring governments are held accountable for their actions.
The report outlines all government requests for user information, government requests to withhold content, and DCMA takedown notices from copyright holders.
Twitter's manager of legal policy, Jeremy Kessel, notes in an official blog post that the Transparency Report is an important part of “keeping the tweets flowing”.
“We've received more government requests in the first half of 2012, as outlined in this initial dataset, than in the entirety of 2011,” says Kessel.
According to the report, the vast majority of user information requests in the last six months have come from the US government, accounting for 679 of the total 849 requests recorded by Twitter. Japan follows, with 98 user information requests. Twitter says it handed over some or all of the requested information for 63% of requests.
During the first half of 2012, Twitter received 3 378 copyright takedown notices, but only removed the material in 38% of cases. The total number of tweets removed by Twitter between January and June is 5 275.
“One of our goals is to grow Twitter in a way that makes us proud. This ideal informs many of our policies and guides us in making difficult decisions.”
Twitter has a longstanding policy to proactively notify users of requests for their account information (unless prohibited by law). The micro-blogging service also passes on information on DMCA takedown notices and requests to withhold content to Chilling Effects.
“These policies help inform people, increase awareness and hold all involved parties - including ourselves - more accountable; the release of our first Transparency Report aims to further these ambitions,” says Kessel.
Kessel also announced that Twitter is partnering with Herdict, a service that collects and disseminates real-time, crowd-sourced information about Internet filtering, denial of service attacks and other blockages.
“This new partnership aims to drive more traffic and exposure to Herdict, while also empowering the Web community at large to help keep an eye on whether users can access Twitter around the world.”
This week it was reported that a New York judge has ordered Twitter to hand over tweets and account information connected with an Occupy Wall Street protester.
In the ruling, criminal court judge Matthew Sciarrino wrote: "If you post a tweet, just like if you scream it out the window, there is no reasonable expectation of privacy." The judge said he would review the information himself and release relevant portions to the prosecutors and lawyers.
Twitter spokeswoman Carolyn Penner said the company was disappointed by the ruling and would consider its legal options.
"Twitter's terms of service have long made it absolutely clear that its users 'own' their content. We continue to have a steadfast commitment to our users and their rights."
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