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A12 technology
Monday 29 august 2022

‘Tape or chewing gum:’ Twitter’s lapses

echo worldwide

20 years in prison because
of an anonymous, satiri-
cal Twitter account that
the kingdom says he ran.
It’s possible that the case
is linked with the men ac-
cused of spying on behalf
of the kingdom while work-
ing at Twitter.
As an advocate for dissi-
dents and others detained
in Saudi Arabia, Bethany
Al-Haidari has been con-
cerned for years about
Twitter’s user privacy safe-
guards. The new whistle-
blower allegations make
The Twitter application is seen on a digital device Monday, April her all the more worried.
25, 2022, in San Diego. A recent bombshell whistleblower report
from Twitter’s former head of security alleges that the social me- “Given what we know
dia company has been negligently lax on cybersecurity and about how social media
privacy protections for its users for years. is used around the world,
that is incredibly problem-
By Barbara Ortutay complaints last month with atic,” said Al-Haidari, who
(AP) — From fire depart- federal U.S. authorities, al- works for The Freedom Ini-
ments to governments, leging that the company tiative, a U.S.-based human
from school districts to cor- misled regulators about its rights group. The possibility
porations, from local utili- poor cybersecurity defens- of hackers or governments
ties to grassroots organizers es and its negligence in at- exploiting the alleged cy-
around the world, Twitter tempting to root out fake bersecurity lapses at Twit-
at its best is a tool to get a accounts that spread disin- ter to get users’ identities,
message out quickly, effi- formation. Among Zatko’s private messages or other
ciently, directly. most serious accusations personal information “is
It’s also a constant risk-and- is that Twitter violated the quite disturbing to me,” she
reward calculation. terms of a 2011 FTC settle- said.
A recent bombshell whistle- ment by falsely claiming Chinese-Australian artist
blower report from Twitter’s that it had put stronger and activist Badiucao, who
former head of security al- measures in place to pro- regularly publishes art that
leges that the social media tect the security and pri- criticizes the Chinese Com-
company has been neg- vacy of its users. munist Party, expressed
ligently lax on cybersecu- Waghre said the allega- concern about the whistle-
rity and privacy protections tions in the complaint blower’s allegations, noting
for its users for years. While about India — that Twitter that many users provide
worrisome for anyone on knowingly allowed the In- their phone numbers and
Twitter, the revelations dian government to place emails to Twitter.
could be especially con- its agents on the company “Once that personal infor-
cerning for those who use payroll where they had “di- mation is leaked, it could
it to reach constituencies, rect unsupervised access be used to trace your iden-
get news out about emer- to the company’s systems tity,” he said. Badiucao said
gencies and for political and user data” — were he regularly receives death
dissidents and activists in particularly worrisome. He threats and propaganda
the crosshairs of hackers or also pointed to an incident from what appears to be
their own governments. earlier this month where a bot or spam accounts.
“We tend to look at these former Twitter employee But the artist plans to keep
companies as large, well- was found guilty of passing using Twitter, saying it’s
resourced entities who along sensitive user data probably the best option
know what they’re doing to royal family members in Chinese-speaking activists
— but you realize that a lot Saudi Arabia in exchange and artists have for a “shel-
of their actions are ad hoc for bribes. ter for free speech.”
and reactive, driven by cri- The consequences of pri- Twitter says the whistle-
ses,” said Prateek Waghre, vacy and security lapses blower claims present a
policy director at the Inter- can range from inconve- “false narrative” about the
net Freedom Foundation, a nience and embarrass- company and its privacy
digital rights nonprofit in In- ment — such as when an and data security prac-
dia. “Essentially, they’re of- Indiana State Police ac- tices, and that the claims
ten held together by cello count was hacked and lack context. “Security and
tape or chewing gum.” tweeted “poo-poo head” privacy have long been
Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, who earlier this year — to much company-wide priorities at
served as Twitter’s secu- worse. In October 2021, Twitter and will continue to
rity chief until he was fired a Saudi humanitarian aid be,” the company said in a
early this year, filed the worker was sentenced to statement.q