Wikileaks Proposal To Create A Database Of Verified Twitter Users Gets Massive Pushback (TWEETS)

By
Darrell Lucus
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It’s been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad weekend for WikiLeaks. On Friday, the national intelligence community confirmed that WikiLeaks worked hand in glove with Russia in its effort to throw the presidential election. It confirmed what most of us already knew–WikiLeaks is a Kremlin front.

Just hours before that announcement, Julian Assange and friends made an announcement that should send a chill down the spine of anyone who has any regard for privacy. They’re seriously considering building a database of people with verified accounts on Twitter. For those who don’t know, celebrities, world leaders, politicians and other important public figures with Twitter accoutns have blue checkmarks beside their names confirming that this is actually their account.

WikiLeaks’ database would include information about users’ families and finances. The original tweet has been deleted, but Scott McGrew, the tech reporter for KNTV in the Bay Area, got a screenshot.

So what does WikiLeaks want to do with this information?

That wasn’t nearly enough to calm down a firestorm of criticism from users well aware of WikiLeaks’ history of playing fast and loose with privacy. WikiLeaks’ information dumps frequently contain unredacted Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, and passport numbers–thus exposing dozens of innocent people to identity theft and harassment.

This practice has cost WikiLeaks a lot of goodwill from people who initially supported Assange’s efforts, including yours truly; I turned against WikiLeaks in 2013 when it emerged that he was not above leaking Social Security numbers.

WikiLeaks told Kevin Collier of Vocativ that all it’s doing is mapping relationships.

As Assange and friends see it, this is no different from what a number of social media outlets already do.

Few people were buying it, though–which is not surprising, given WikiLeaks’ past history.

https://twitter.com/EthanDLawrence/status/817436488417837056

https://twitter.com/SamPrell/status/817460015493771265

Even WikiLeaks’ fellow subversives at Anonymous were up in arms, and went as far as to tag Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey and the Twitter support team.

WikiLeaks has blamed the criticism on an attempt by its critics to mislead the public.

If Assange thought this would put out the fire, he was dead wrong.

While this was going on, Twitter gave WikiLeaks a quiet, but firm reminder that its proposal could potentially violate Twitter’s terms of service.

Considering that Twitter has gone as far as to threaten to shut down Donald Trump’s Twitter account if he steps out of line, Assange better be very afraid.

(featured image courtesy Ecuadorian Embassy in the UK, available under a Creative Commons BY-SA license)

Darrell Lucus
Darrell is a 30-something graduate of the University of North Carolina who considers himself a journalist of the old school. An attempt to turn him into a member of the religious right in college only succeeded in turning him into the religious right's worst nightmare--a charismatic Christian who is an unapologetic liberal. His desire to stand up for those who have been scared into silence only increased when he survived an abusive three-year marriage. You may know him on Daily Kos as Christian Dem in NC. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook. Click here to buy Darrell a Mello Yello.

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