A superficial take on Twitter's terms of service, in order to create awareness among younger internet users about the importance of actively participating in the well-being of their rights and privacy.

1. Net 213 Policy Primer Chea Hwey Yea

2. How long did it take you to register your Twitter account?

3. Not very long, I’m sure.

4. Did you happen to read through their Terms of Service (ToS)? https://twitter.com/tos

5. If you did, good for you!

6. If you didn't, oh boy, are you missing out!

7. That's because they explain...

8. who owns your tweets, and… lumaxart.com

9. how your privacy is protected lumaxart.com

10. Let's put Twitter’s ToS under the microscope lumaxart.com

11. Twitter’s ToS: Copyright & Ownership A summary…

12. 1. You own what you post on their service. Therefore… lumaxart.com

13. 2. You are solely responsible for what you tweet, not Twitter. lumaxart.com

14. 3. By using their services, Twitter is authorized to publish your tweets. lumaxart.com

15. That means, they can do anything they want with it and they don’t have to pay you to use it. lumaxart.com

16. 4. You also agree to allow Twitter to share your tweets with other entities lumaxart.com

17. What does this mean to you?

18. You are held accountable for what you post.

19. In March 09, Courtney Love tweeted about how she was overcharged for custom clothing. http://bit.ly/suedfortweet

20. The designer wasn’t pleased, so Courtney got sued. (Gardner, 2009) http://bit.ly/suedfortweet

21. In July 09, a woman from Chicago tweeted to her 20 followers about the mold in her apartment http://bit.ly/ewwmold

22. "Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it's okay.“ (Masnick, 2009) http://bit.ly/ewwmold

23. The company sued. http://bit.ly/ewwmold

24. Of course, there’s the question of the extent to which one can be defamed, all within 140 characters or less (Gardner, 2009).

25. But I guess it would probably be a good idea to not do these on Twitter: defame someone implicate yourself in criminal activities making death threats and anything that could get you in trouble

26. You grant Twitter a license to publish your tweets

27. By submitting tweets to Twitter, “you grant [Twitter] a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license (with the right to sublicense) to…

28. “… use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display and distribute” your tweets anywhere.

29. It “includes the right for Twitter to make such Content available to other companies, organizations or individuals who partner with Twitter…

30. “… for the syndication, broadcast, distribution or publication of such Content on other media and services, subject to [Twitter’s] terms and conditions for such Content use.”

31. I’m aware you lot are a creative bunch. lumaxart.com

32. But if you find your tweets being used elsewhere… lumaxart.com

33. know that it may not necessarily be an infringement of your copyright. lumaxart.com

34. Twitter may have sublicensed it to them. lumaxart.com

35. But it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be aware of your rights.

36. What you can ask, and what they should do, is to credit you as the owner of the content. lumaxart.com

37. Like what they’re doing at Twitter Tees. http://twitter.threadless.com

38. Twitter Tees Tweets printed on tees. A project by Threadless and Twitter. http://twitter.threadless.com/about

39. “by @cleversimon” http://bit.ly/pooping

40. “by @thepaulgreen” http://bit.ly/tweetmyfbook

41. “by @pud” http://bit.ly/youequalwaterlost

42. Twitter’s ToS: Privacy Policy A summary… https://twitter.com/privacy

43. 1. It’s okay for them to collect personally identifiable information about you lumaxart.com

44. 2. It’s okay for them to log your browsing activities lumaxart.com

45. 3. It’s okay for them to sell or share your information with third parties… lumaxart.com

46. which includes; mergers, acquisitions, reorganizations; sale of assets; or bankruptcy… lumaxart.com

47. What does this mean to you?

48. It’s okay for them to sell or share your information with third parties…

49. Twitter’s policy doesn’t require them to inform users, should they decide to sell your information. lumaxart.com lumaxart.com

50. However, it states that you can opt out of the transfer, if… lumaxart.com

51. the buyer’s use of your information were substantially different from Twitter’s policy. lumaxart.com

52. What I’m puzzled about is… lumaxart.com

53. how likely is it, that you would be aware of how your information was going to be used… lumaxart.com

54. much less be at the ready to opt out of the transfer, lumaxart.com

55. if Twitter isn’t obligated to notify you? lumaxart.com

56. It’s okay for them to collect personally identifiable information about you and log your browsing activities

57. Twitter’s policy doesn’t stipulate how long they can store your information. lumaxart.com

58. months, days, years, forever… lumaxart.com

59. In the event of a security breach, you could be compromised.

60. All the data they have compiled under your username would’ve been exposed.

61. More often than not, these information can reveal a lot about someone. Even their identity. (Barbarro & Zeller Jr., 2006)

62. Studies show that people don’t seem to value their privacy as much, on the internet. (Goettke & Christiana ,2007; Introna, 1997)

63. A man tweeted about how he was leaving for a holiday spot, faraway from his home. http://bit.ly/ransacked

64. When his trip ended, he found his home burglarized. (Allen, 2009) http://bit.ly/ransacked

65. It’s not just about Twitter knowing too much about you,

66. it’s also about putting too much information out there.

67. Be aware of your privacy.

68. I hope I’ve highlighted a few things that could be useful to you, and… lumaxart.com

69. prompted you to think about how you would want your information handled and protected. lumaxart.com

70. Thank you for watching. Chea Hwey lumaxart.com

72. Barbarro, M. & Zeller Jr., T. (2006). A face is exposed for AOL searcher no. 4417749. The New York Times. Retrieved October 3, 2009, from http://bit.ly/aoluserexposed

75. Twitter Terms of Service. (2009). Retrieved September 30, 2009, from http://twitter.com/terms

76. Twitter Tees. (n.d.). Retrieved October 2, 2009, from http://twitter.threadless.com/