Twitter must release tweets of Occupy Wall Street protester: judge

By Katrina Jones Jul 2nd, 2012 ( No Comment )

A New York City judge has order Twitter to release tweets from the account of an Occupy Wall Street protester being prosecuted for ‘disorderly conduct’.

Twitter has been ordered to turn over basic user information from the account of Malcolm Harris, who was among more than 700 demonstrators arrested Oct. 1 on the Brooklyn Bridge. His Twitter account is @destructuremal.

Harris’ motion to quash the subpoena to Twitter was denied by the criminal court of the city of New York on the grounds that Harris had no proprietary interest in the user information on his Twitter account. Twitter challenged the subpoena, saying users own their Twitter data under the site’s terms of service, CNET News reported.

This weekend, the criminal court of the city and county of New York disagreed and stood by the initial order.

“We are pleased that the court has ruled for a second time that the tweets at issue must be turned over,” Chief Assistant District Attorney Daniel R. Alonso said in a statement. “We look forward to Twitter’s complying and to moving forward with the trial.”