For twits who don't tweet

I admit I am one of those twits. I have tried and given up on tweets. But the following excerpt from a letter to Malaysiakini helps in my understanding of how it works:

"For the uninformed, on Twitter you can't receive tweets from anyone unless you have opted to 'follow' someone's tweets. And also, there is a setting on your Twitter account where you could set your tweets as private, hence people will not be able to follow your tweets unless you have granted them access.

In that case, your tweets are meant for your private consumption and for sharing with your friends. Tony was able to receive Lilian's tweet that would mean that he had sent a request to Lilian to allow him to follow her tweets, and Lilian had granted him the access.

In this scenario, there is an inherent trust given, meaning that Lilian had placed her trust on Tony to follow her private thoughts expressed on Twitter.

For Tony to file a police report over a private tweet of Lilian's is unacceptable and despicable.

Not only that he had curtailed her freedom of expression in her private space, he had betrayed her trust in allowing him access to her private place. He had also infringed her privacy by filing a police report over a private tweet. The act is like a friend filing a police report over a private conversation they had in a private room."

Rest of the letter:

http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/171445

For ARTHarun's take on the legal aspect of twitting and other cyber offences:

http://art-harun.blogspot.com/2011/08/making-offence-in-twitterjaya.html

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