Twitter gives up user data to feds 69% of the time

IDG News Service - Twitter has released new numbers showing that the social network complied with government data requests 69% of the time in the U.S., as government requests for user information worldwide continue to rise.

The total number of information requests increased to 1,009 during the second half of 2012, up from 849 during the first half of the year, according to Twitter's transparency report. Government requests for content removal also increased to 42 from just six.

"All signs suggest that these government inquiries will continue to climb into the foreseeable future," Twitter said.

Copyright violation notices, on the other hand, fell slightly to 3,268 from 3,378 during 2012's first six months.

At 815, more than 80% of all the user information requests during the second half of 2012 came from the U.S., up 20% from 679 during the first half of the year. Twitter complied with the requests 69% of the time, the company reported.

Of those requests, 60% came in the form of subpoenas, which generally do not require a judge's sign-off and usually seek basic user information such as the email address associated with an account and IP logs, Twitter said.

Court orders, which must be signed by a judge, comprised 11% of the requests made in the U.S., the company reported.

Search warrants, which typically require the most judicial scrutiny, represented 19% of all domestic information requests, said Twitter. For a search warrant to be issued, for instance, there must be a showing of probable cause as well as a judge's signature, according to the company. And with a properly executed warrant, tweets and direct messages can be disclosed, the report said.

The remaining requests in the U.S. originated from other processes such as emergency requests related to death or serious physical injury to a person.

Most user information requests are tied to criminal investigations or cases. Twitter's policy is to notify users of requests for their account information unless the company is prohibited from doing so by law or in an emergency situation.

At 62, Japan was the country with the second-highest number of information requests, while Brazil was in third with 34.

The company released its first transparency report last July, which published six months of data on government data requests for user information, government requests to withhold content and Digital Millennium Copyright Act-related complaints from copyright holders.

Twitter said that since then it has been thinking about how to share the information more effectively and to make it more accessible. The more granular details regarding information requests from the U.S. go hand in hand with that goal, Twitter said.