Activists reject U.S. arrest a Twitter user

The arrest of a New Yorker, who used Twitter to alert police protesters movements in a G20 meeting in Pittsburgh last month, would be considered a violation of their rights if it had happened in Iran or China, according to activists said.
Pittsburgh police arrested on September 24, Elliot Madison, 41, at a time when hundreds of people-some of whom threw stones and broke windows of shops-protesters on the first day of a G20 summit of rich countries and developing nations.
The protesters, with a large anti-capitalist agenda, they were kept away from the convention site where world leaders maintained their two-day meeting. Police used pepper spray to disperse sporadically.
The criminal indictment against Madison argues that violated the law by using Twitter to give instructions to the demonstrators and others involved in criminal acts to avoid arrest and inform them of the movements and actions of the police.Twitter allows its subscribers to post text messages of 140 characters.
Madison, who was released on bail, is accused of hindering the apprehension, prosecution and criminal use of communication elements and possessing instruments for committing crimes, defined as telecommunications equipment.
"The same conduct (the authorities) in Iran or China during recent protests would be seen as violations of human rights, whereas here it is considered necessary to control crime," Reuters said Vic Walczak, legal director of the American Union Civil Liberties in Pennsylvania.
Twitter was used by demonstrators in Iran amid protests and government repression that occurred after the disputed June elections in the country.
At one point, the State Department urged even Twitter to delay a planned upgrade that would temporarily cut the service in Iran.
China has repeatedly blocked access to sites like Twitter, as in May, facing the twentieth anniversary of the massacre in Tiananmen Square, and again in July after the unrest in the northwestern region of Xinjiang.
Pittsburgh police, who were asked about illegal actions of Madison, noted Madison's accusation that was hindering the apprehension or law enforcement. "All law enforcement agencies should keep abreast of continuing developments in technology, both to determine how technology can help police to better serve the public and to find ways and can be used to commit crimes," said the spokesman Myra Taylor.
"The criminal indictment contends that Mr. Madison legal devices used to commit illegal acts," he said. Laura DeNardis, executive director of the Information Society Project at Yale Law School, said the arrest of Madison could be used "by repressive countries that might be looking restrict the use of technology."
"They could cite this as a justification for freedom of expression even more direct and repressive measures in cases like those we saw in the protests by the Iranian elections," said DeNardis.

Without profit, Twitter is worth 1,000 million dollars

Twitter, one of the most popular communication services, Internet, will receive $ 100 million from investors to finance its operations, in a transaction listed on the social network created three years ago at 1,000 million dollars despite not yet considerable revenue generated much less revenue.
The news suggests that the founders of the message service to 140 characters, Evan Williams and Biz Stone, are determined not to sell your idea to a large company while looking for ways to make money from it.
Twitter did not elaborate on the size of the investment, saying only that it involved a large sum. However, two people briefed on the negotiations confirmed to him amounts to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
Williams and Stone declined to be interviewed.
Investors who bought parcels of shares in Twitter are three that have already invested in the company Benchmark Capital, Institutional Venture Partners and Spark Capital and two new shareholders: Insight Venture Partners and T. Rowe Price.
Twitter, based in San Francisco, had raised $ 55 million previously. The last capital of 35 million, was seven months ago.
With so much money in the bank, the company now can buy more computers and further improve the stability of its service, which is prone to interruptions. You can also add employees to its roster of 60 without feeling the pressure of being acquired by a larger company.
"This is a smart move on the part of Twitter because it gives them time to get revenue to its momentum and generate a business plan," said Ken Marlin, a banker specializing in technology investments.
The intention is that the funds preserve the independence of Twitter until it can generate enough revenue to cover their own expenses, said one source familiar with the negotiations.
Twitter has already rejected a takeover offer for 500 million dollars from Facebook and it was rumored that both Google and Microsoft made consultations on a possible takeover.
Williams, one of the founders, said Friday in a blog that Twitter want to see how far you can reach alone

Twitter declares its terms

Twitter is increasingly being used for commercial purposes, there are more and brands who use the service to catch up with their customers. Also a beneficial way. The Twestival, meetings 'tuiteros' making small donations to a cause become popular in different countries. Without going any further, this Thursday there was one in Madrid.

However, if something was struck on Twitter was the feeling of 'lawless city. " The proliferation disappearing users who demanded money to recover the user corresponding to the name of a brand or to hack the password were the most common.

This Friday, Biz Stone, Twitter co-founder, sent a letter informing users to create the "Terms of Use" the service so that no doubts remain.

From now clear that he posts on every message will be responsibility of the user who is entitled to "use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display and distribute". This includes links are posted in the 'tuits'.

At the same time indicates that the service is subject to the privacy policies previously known and that are going to adapt to the laws of individual countries that used the service.

Despite his success and popularity traffic big question that arises when discussing the service of 'microblogging' is about profitability. For the first time reveal its intention to include advertising on user pages.

The growth of this service has been partly due to the success of the release of its application programming interface (API). Under the terms of use explicitly invites developers to create more services from these instructions.

The 'spam' (unwanted messages sent to haunt) has also invaded Twitter. In the spirit of the company not only kill it, but also remove the accounts who attempt to steal user names, brand names, something that happens often with domain names. "Com" companies, or impersonation identity. Until now it was very common to find names of companies with messages intended to be a price to the account.