FTC Settles Twitter Privacy Charges

Reprinted with permission from FindLaw.com

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has settled with Twitter with respect to charges that during the first half of 2009 a hacker used an automated password-guessing tool to gain administrative control of Twitter, enabling the sending of phony tweets. Under the terms of the settlement, Twitter is barred for 20 years from misleading consumers about its efforts to protect the security, privacy and confidentiality of nonpublic consumer information, and Twitter must maintain a comprehensive information security program that will be assessed by an independent auditor over the course of ten years.

The complaint by the FTC against Twitter had charged significant data security lapses. In January 2009, a hacker allegedly used fraudulently reset passwords, posted them online, and thus enabled others to access and use them. Indeed, phony tweets were set from nine user accounts. One such tweet was sent from President-elect Obama, which