Comments on: Confidential Twitter Docs Fly Into Inboxes

By: Twitter Receiving A Massive Amount Of Free Advertising

Twitter Receiving A Massive Amount Of Free Advertising — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 09:04:03 +0000

[...] how do you see the buzz around Twitter playing out? Will it take drama like the great document leak of 2009 for people to pay attention or will Twitter be so relevant that people will just have to talk about [...]

By: Twitter Receiving A Massive Amount Of Free Advertising - Programming Blog

Twitter Receiving A Massive Amount Of Free Advertising - Programming Blog — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:08:25 +0000

By: schuessler

schuessler — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 19:46:31 +0000

Thank you for this good article.

By: Tech

Tech — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 11:51:17 +0000

He shouldn't have published the documents. He knew very well they were stolen. Tech's last blog post..Swat Valley Refugees Begin Return

By: Graham Jones

Graham Jones — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 08:12:26 +0000

So, now we know that the documents are real since Twitter has now taken legal advice and admitted they were hacked into. My orginal theory that the documents were fake is blown away…! Even so, the fact that a document is real does not mean it should be published. Apart from the “public interest” decision, there is also the “publisher interest” decision. Will the short term gain in readers be worthwhile compared with the long term loss of readers who disagree with the act of publishing. In Liverpool, UK, today you still will find it hard to get anyone to read The Sun newspaper (the most popular daily in the UK) because of what the newspaper said about Liverpool football fans back in 1996. Sometimes what seems to be a “scoop” is worthless in the long term – a factor that people often forget to consider. The former editor of The Daily Mirror, Piers Morgan, had to resign from his job because of a “scoop” that later turned out to have considerable weaknesses. He lost his job and the paper lost readers.

So, even though these documents may have some potential fascination there is still doubt about their “public interest” and their potential long-term damage to the blogs that publish the details. Add to that the fact that they appear to have been obtained illegally and many of these bloggers could find themselves in court.

More importantly in all this is something that appears almost forgotten. The hacker simply got into a Twitter employee’s Google Apps account. That suggests that there is a huge weakness in the Google Apps system, pointing to a potential problem for almost anyone who uses the Google system. When the history books are written, this incident may well end up being a turning point in the success or otherwise of online applications.

By: Jamie

Jamie — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 19:22:39 +0000

Though I hate to say this, I have to agree with Arrington on this particular issue. Here are my thoughts:
http://linjamie.com/2009/07/15/why-michael-arrington-should-post-twitt er-docs/

Jamie’s last blog post..Why Michael Arrington SHOULD Post Twitter Docs

By: Confidential Twitter Docs Fly Into Inboxes | TwooTools - Twitter Tools

Confidential Twitter Docs Fly Into Inboxes | TwooTools - Twitter Tools — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:48:29 +0000

[...] Here is the original post: Confidential Twitter Docs Fly Into Inboxes [...]

By: Private Twitter Documents To Be Revealed | The Free Site Hosting | Reviews & Top Hosts

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:21:50 +0000

[...] Comments [...]

By: Frank Reed

Frank Reed — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 13:20:10 +0000

@ Graham Jones – Thank you for bringing up that valid point. I did consider discussing whether these ‘documents’ were to be trusted but since Arrington came on so strong about them I assumed he had done his homework. Of course, we all know what happens when you assume ……..

Thanks for the input

Frank Reed’s last blog post..Good Sales Help is VERY Hard to Find

By: Graham Jones

Graham Jones — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 13:14:24 +0000

As a former journalist I know that many such documents fall into the hands of writers every day. However, the deciding factor as to whether or not to publish is threefold. Firstly, is it of public interest (not of interest to the public – that’s different). Secondly, were the documents obtained legally.? Thirdly, are the documents what they purport to be? Often, such documents appear convincing, but turn out to be false. The Sunday Times knows to its cost with the so-called Hitler Diaries, that people go to extraordinary lengths to fabricate stories.

Before anyone decides to publish the contents of these documents, it first needs to be established whether or not they are real. If they are, then it needs to be established as to how they were obtained. if they were not stolen or obtained using hacking, then the public interest question arises.

My guess….the documents are more likely to be fakes than real.