Alex Howard discusses the recent uproar on Twitter after journalist Guy Adams’ account was suspended for tweeting the email of an NBC executive to whom viewers could complain about NBC’s Olympic coverage. The account has been reinstated, and Twitter broke its usual silence on individual cases to discuss what had happened and why. But that’s not the end of the conversation. Alex writes:
I see at least three different important issues here related to electronic privacy, Twitter’s terms of service, censorship and how many people think about social media and the Web.
Is a corporate email address private?
Washington Post media critic Erik Wemple is at a loss to explain how tweeting this corporate email address qualifies public (sic) rises to the level of disclosing private information.
Can a corporate email address based upon a known nomenclature used by tens of thousands of people “private?”