Richard Gray
Twitter has handed over the confidential details of British users in a landmark legal case.
For the first time, the American social networking site has bowed to a court action brought by a British group complaining that they were libelled in messages.
The individuals who brought the legal action were councillors and officials at a local authority, South Tyneside.
They launched the case in an attempt to unmask an anonymous whistle-blower who calls himself Mr Monkey.
The action is believed to have cost council tax payers hundreds of thousands of pounds.
The unprecedented ruling has prompted a row over freedom of speech, with experts warning that it may lead to a flood of actions by lawyers in other cases seeking to obtain personal information about people who breach super-injunctions or post libellous messages on Twitter.
It comes as lawyers for Ryan Giggs, the Manchester United footballer, attempt to obtain details of individuals who named him on Twitter as the holder of an injunction to protect details of his personal life.
Until now, Twitter has resisted releasing information about its users, although its privacy policy says it will do so to “comply with a law, regulation or legal request”.
Tony Wang, the company’s head of European operations, warned last week that it would not seek to protect users’ confidential information when legally required to hand it over.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/8544350/Twitter-reveals-secrets-Details-of-British-users-handed-over-in-landmark-case-that-could-help-Ryan-Giggs.html
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