Judge Finds No Constitutional Violation in Producing Tweets

Twitter must produce tweets and user information of an Occupy Wall Street protester, a judge has ruled, discounting objections from the social media website in a case of first impression.

"The Constitution gives you the right to post, but as numerous people have learned, there are still consequences for your public posts. What you give to the public belongs to the public. What you keep to yourself belongs only to you," Criminal Court Judge Matthew Sciarrino Jr., sitting in Manhattan, wrote in People v. Harris, 2011NY080152. Sciarrino on June 30 ordered the site to produce in chambers Malcolm Harris' user information and tweets from over a more than three-month period—information the Manhattan District Attorney's Office is seeking for its prosecution of a disorderly conduct charged against Harris. Harris was one of some 700 Occupy Wall Street protesters arrested during an October march across the Brooklyn Bridge.