Google – AFP, 26 June 2013
 |
Twitter CEO
Dick Costolo speaks during a discussion on social
media on June 26, 2013 at the
Brookings Institution (AFP, Mandel Ngan)
|
WASHINGTON
— Twitter is holding to a "principled" policy on national security
data requests and will "push back" in some cases to protect the
privacy of its users, its chief executive said Wednesday.
Dick Costolo,
appearing at a forum at the Brookings Institution in Washington, declined to
comment on whether Twitter had specific requests under the vast data-gathering
program called PRISM made public this month.
But he said
the popular messaging service maintains its policy of allowing users to be
informed of any requests from authorities, both in the United States and
abroad.
"We've
been very clear about having articulated a very principled policy around access
to user data," he said.
"When
we receive a valid, legal request in the countries in which we operate we will
abide by the rule of law."
He added
that for "other requests that may be more broad in scope and not specific
legal requests that don't meet our principle... we will push back on."
Twitter was
not among the nine Internet firms cited in documents for providing access to
the secretive National Security Agency, which seeks to identify potential
terrorist threats from abroad.
Costolo
steered clear of questions on why Twitter was absent from the list, which
includes Google, Yahoo!, Facebook, Microsoft and Apple.
But he
noted that Twitter has gone to court in certain cases to fight "gag"
orders and to allow users to be in informed of how their own data is used.
"We
feel that our users have a right to know when their information is being
requested," he said.
"This
is not just something we deal with in the US, it's something we deal with in
all the countries (where) we operate."
Costolo
also defended the messaging platform in the face of criticism from Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who branded Twitter as a
"troublemaker" inciting protests against his rule.
"The
beauty of having this open public platform that allows everybody around you to
see and hear what you think is that... that it's this public town square.
That's what it is. We don't editorialize what's on it," he said.
"We
don't say, 'If you believe this you can't use our platform.' You can use our
platform to say what you believe... The platform itself doesn't have any
perspective on this. It's a vehicle for people to give their perspective."
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