New York State Supreme Court Judge Matthew A. Sciarrino Jr. in Manhattan granted Twitter until today to produce either the data or furnish its earnings statements for the past two quarters so that he can determine an amount to fine the company, Bloomberg, reported.
Such a severe decision resulted as the judge had asked Twitter to show why it was not in contempt of court after refusing to produce information about Twitter posts by protester Malcolm Harris in response to a subpoena from Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.
Protest … an Occupy Wall Street activist on the Brooklyn Bridge. Photo: Reuters
Prosecutors have subpoenaed Twitter to furnish “any and all user information, including e-mail address, together with any and all tweets” posted by Harris, an activist accused of disorderly conduct during an Occupy Wall Street protest last October that resulted in more than 700 arrests.
“Under New York law as it stands today, corporations are people,” Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Matthew Sciarrino Jr. said Tuesday morning. “I can’t put Twitter or the little blue bird in jail, so the only way to punish is monetarily.”
In June, Sciarrino decreed that Twitter must produce all of the posts from September 15 to December 30, 2011, and user information linked to the “@destructuremal” account of Harris, who was arrested on October 1 with about 700 protesters on the Brooklyn Bridge, denying the company’s request to quash the subpoena. The micro-blogging hub then requested for a stay that would block enforcement of the order while it appealed Sciarrino’s decision. That request was denied on September 7, according to court records.
Police and protesters squared off on the Brooklyn Bridge during a march on Oct. 1, 2011. Image Credit:(Reuters)
However, Harris has argued that the “protesters were led and escorted on to the bridge by the police and had a reasonable belief that their conduct was authorized,” according to his motion to dismiss filed in December.
Arguing further, it states, “A ‘Public Tweet’ is open to be viewed not only by all Twitter users, but also by non-users who have discovered the message via Google and other internet search engines,” according to a prosecution motion to show cause why they should be entitled to the information.
In fact, the micro-blogging site has disagreed with the subpoenas, saying users own their Twitter data as per the site’s terms of service. And the social network has maintained this stance throughout these legal proceedings. In May, Twitter’s legal counsel Ben Lee said, “Our filing with the court reaffirms our steadfast commitment to defending those rights for our users.”
However, a lawyer representing Twitter in court Tuesday, Terryl Brown, informed the judge that the lag in furnishing the information to the court–which is to be reviewed privately by the judge in his chambers–was caused by the company’s attempt to legally nullify the district attorney’s subpoena demanding the account information. The attorney asked for three days to file opposition papers to the judge’s most recent ruling.
Although, the unrelenting judge said opposition papers had to be filed by the end of Tuesday and told Brown that if Twitter did not comply with his 73-day-old ruling to produce the “@destructuremal” account information then he would base his fine on the company’s earnings statements for the past two quarters.
By the way, the micro-blogging hug said it “is interested in having a fair hearing on this issue, it is a novel issue,” the company’s lawyer Brown told Sciarrino, saying it wanted more time to appeal his June 30 ruling. Sciarrino said his hearing was a fair one, and the company has already had 73 days to comply with his order.