Introduction to Twitter Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

1. Policy Primer:
An introduction to Twitter’s Terms of Service &
Privacy Policy

2.  Twitter is an online real-time instant messaging
service
 Often referred to as a micro-blogging service
 Send small messages and “speak your mind”
 Send 140 character messages to your friends or
followers PCs, Laptops & Mobile Phones
 You can broadcast Tweets (messages) to public or
private groups

3.  Send personalised / private messages to
individuals or selected groups
 Follow the postings of others (a Follower)
 Followers can reply to Tweets or forward these
messages to others
 Remember…!!
Whatever you write will become public..even if
you think it’s private!

4. Twitter’s legal documents are contained on the
www.twitter.com website include:
 Terms of Service http://twitter.com/tos
 Privacy Policy http://twitter.com/privacy
 Other Twitter Rules & Must Read Instructions
 The Twitter Rules http://twitter.zendesk.com/forums/26257/entries/18311
 Law Enforcement Guidelines http://twitter.zendesk.com/forums/26257/entries/41949
 API Terms of Service http://dev.twitter.com/pages/api_terms
 Twitter Basics http://support.twitter.com/groups/31-twitter-basics
 Report a Violation Page http://support.twitter.com/groups/33-report-a-violation

5. https://twitter.com/signup
By clicking “Create my
account”, you are
agreeing to Twitter’s
Terms of Service,
Privacy Policy and
other rules of use

6.  Basic Terms
 By registering you are forming a contract with Twitter
(under laws of United States or other applicable jurisdictions),
 You accepting the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
when pressing the “Create my account” button.
 Twitter is free to change or stop its services without
prior notice to you.
 Twitter has the right change the limits on storage or
usage without prior notice to you.
 Twitter has the right to include advertisements on its
pages or what’s presented to you.

7.  Privacy Section
 Twitter is allowed to send you service
announcements even though you’ve un-subscribed
to e-mails. These are not considered as SPAM.
 You can opt-out from newsletters, follower e-mails
by changing your Notices in the Settings tab.
 There is a separate Privacy Policy web page which
you must refer to. http://twitter.com/privacy

8.  Passwords
 Twitter recommends strong passwords
 Twitter is not responsible for your loss or damage if your
password is compromised
 Content on the Services
 You are responsible for the Content you post
 Twitter is not responsible for Content posted, this is at
the readers risk.
 Offensive, harmful, inaccurate, mislabelled, deceptive
content or links to viruses are at the readers risk.
 Twitter not liable for any loss or damage.
 Twitter may remove content at its discretion.

9.  Your Rights
 You retain the right to any Content you submit
 You grant Twitter a sub-licence to:
 Use or modify your Content
 The right to broadcast this content worldwide
 And in any and all distribution methods available now
or in the future.
 You allow Twitter & other companies to publish
your Content and for others to read it.

10.  Your Content still remains your property, you own
the Content.
 You are responsible for ensuring copyright of your
Content.
 Twitter allows you to use of their software and
message broadcasting service:
 Provided you conform to the Terms of Service, Privacy
and other rules of use.

11.  Twitter Rights
 The Twitter website and Services (excluding your
Content) is the property of Twitter Inc.
 The Twitter website code, images and logos belong
to Twitter
 You are not allowed to use, copy or claim ownership.
 Any great ideas or suggestions on how to improve
the service are presented without obligation.
Twitter will not reward you for a great idea or new
invention.

12.  Restrictions on Content and Use of the Services
 Twitter reserves the right remove Content or close your
account.
 Twitter has the right to monitor your content.
 Twitter has the right to make your Content available to law
enforcement agencies and governments.
 Twitter provides an Application Programming Interface
(API).
 API allows programmers to create applications (to send &
receive Tweets) . See API Terms of Service.
http://dev.twitter.com/pages/api_terms

13.  Twitter claims not to release “personally
identifiable” information to third parties. See Privacy
Policy. http://twitter.com/privacy
 No hacking, tampering, deceptive sending,
spamming, virus uploading or denial of service
allowed by users.

14.  Copyright Policy
 Twitter recognises the intellectual property rights of
users
 Will respond to alleged copyright infringements
 Twitter reserves the right to remove any alleged
infringing content without prior notice.
 The Services are Available “AS-IS”
 The Twitter make no guarantees as to the reliability or
operation of their services
 Not responsible for loss of data or damage to your
computer as a result of using the service.

15.  Links
 Twitter is not responsible for links, or content on
other websites, services or third party applications.
 Twitter does not endorse content on any other site
 Users acknowledge their responsibility for sending
Followers to other websites
 Users assume the risk from using third party sites.

16.  Limitation of Liability
 Twitter is not liable for any loss or damage caused
as a result of using their services
 In some countries the exclusion of warranties may
not be enforceable
 If some part of the Terms of Service is not
enforceable, it does not void the remainder of the
Terms.
 Laws of California and United States will apply.

17.  Personal – Identifiable Information
 Name, User Name, E-Mail Address, Location,
Password, Photo, Bio, Mobile Phone Number, IP
Address, browser type & version. http://twitter.com/privacy
 Don’t enable Current Location, if away from home
might get burgled.

18.  Tracking & Data Logging
 Twitter saves and tracks what you say (Tweet) and to
who.
 It also tracks who you follow, Retweet, reply & message.
 Twitter targets advertising based on what you say and
follow / view and what you Retweet.
 Twitter uses cookies to track IP address, screen visits
and session status.
 Without cookies enabled you can’t login.
 Twitter also follows our usage with various tools such as
Google Analytics.

19.  Twitter claims NOT to release private information,
except in the following cases:
 When you consent or use a third party applications to
access Twitter (Tweetdeck etc)
 To other undescribed service providers (who & what?)
 The law agencies (big brother terrorist prevention ?)
 To a new owner of Twitter (then what will they do with it?)
 Non-Private or aggregated data (questionable?)

20.  Children Policy
 Children under 13 are not allowed to use Twitter
 Pervious versions
 Old Privacy Policies & Terms of Service are
maintained on the site. (Good, history of changes
important)

21.  Private Accounts become public
 This has occurred using third party applications
http://techcrunch.com/2008/04/23/privacy-disaster-at-twitter-direct-messages-exposed/
 Private Accounts can be hacked
 YouTube has several examples how to hack Private
Accounts.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hacking+twitter+accounts&aq=0
 Malicious links to viruses & worms allow malware,
Trojans & phishing
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/blog-post/2010/09/twitter_bug_attacks_the_intern.html
http://blog.twitter.com/2010/02/avoid-phishing-scams.html
 Private Tweets can be forwarded to Followers of
Followers

22.  The Twitter Rules http://twitter.zendesk.com/forums/26257/entries/18311
 Details what not to do on Twitter including SPAM, content restrictions
 Law Enforcement Guidelines http://twitter.zendesk.com/forums/26257/entries/41949
 Twitter requires a subpoena, court order, or other valid legal process to disclose
information about our users.
 API Terms of Service http://dev.twitter.com/pages/api_terms
 This is for software developers when developing applications that interact or use the
Twitter service
 Twitter Help Center http://support.twitter.com/
◦ A good place to start before you start Tweeting
 Twitter Basics http://support.twitter.com/groups/31-twitter-basics
 Extensive list of information on how to use Twitter and what not to do
 Report a Violation Page http://support.twitter.com/groups/33-report-a-violation
 Worth reading before using Twitter, informs what’s not acceptable

23. Google Analytics. (2010). Google.com Retrieved October, 12, 2010, from
http://www.google.com/analytics/
Twitter. (2009a). Guideline for Law Enforcement. Twitter.com Retrieved October, 13,
2010, from http://twitter.zendesk.com/forums/26257/entries/41949
Twitter. (2009b). The Twitter Rules. Twitter.com Retrieved October, 12, 2010, from
http://twitter.zendesk.com/forums/26257/entries/18311
Twitter. (2010a). API Terms of Service. Twitter.com Retrieved October, 12, 2010, from
http://dev.twitter.com/pages/api_terms
Twitter. (2010b). Privacy Policy. Twitter.com Retrieved October, 20, 2010, from
http://twitter.com/privacy
Twitter. (2010c). Report a Violation. Twitter.com Retrieved October, 16, 2010, from
http://support.twitter.com/groups/33-report-a-violation
Twitter. (2010d). Terms of Service. Twitter.com Retrieved October, 20, 2010, from
http://twitter.com/tos
Twitter. (2010e). Twitter Help Center. Twitter.com Retrieved October, 12, 2010, from
http://support.twitter.com/