NYPD goes after Twitter to ID user who threatened to 'kill a

[abayridgeguy]

NYPD goes after Twitter to ID user who threatened to 'kill a lot of people' at Mike Tyson’s one-man show
Tweet posted by Florida user last week, but Twitter denied a requested by New York police for the identity of the person
By Rocco Parascandola / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS / Updated: Tuesday, August 7, 2012, 9:37 AM.


The NYPD is scrambling to find a Twitter user who threatened to kill people at the Broadway theater hosting Mike Tyson's one-man show.
The tweet was posted from Florida last week, but Twitter denied an NYPD request to identify the person who made the threat, Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said.

The Manhattan district attorney's office plans to subpoena Twitter for the information Tuesday.

The tweet promised that “people are gonna die like Aurora," a police source said, a reference to the massacre of 12 moviegoers at a showing of “The Dark Knight Rises” in Aurora, Colo., on July 20.
The person making the threat also vowed in a second tweet "to kill a lot of people,'' the source said.

Browne said the NYPD asked Twitter for the person ID late Friday, but that police in response received what appeared to be a boilerplate email denying the request.
"They said that in judgment there doesn't appear to be a threat," Browne said. "We think our police judgment should trump that."
Browne also said that even though the tweeter posted from Florida, investigators are worried that person might travel to New York to carry out the threat.

Tyson's “Undisputed” opened Friday for a limited run at the Longacre Theater.
Browne said police beefed up security at the theater but that no shows have been postponed.

[Laertes607]

Good for twitter .... NYPD thinks they know everything, how do they have jurisdiction in Florida??

[VirginiaDave]

Their job is to protect people from threats. If they didn't find this person and there was an attack, we all know who would be first in line to complain about it.

I am sure they will get a subpoena and have all the information they need or the Feds will do it for them.

[Leon.Anus]

shit in that case we all best send them our emails logins, passwords, pin# for vm, and codes for any other devices we may use to communicate on. Just in case they need them.

[VirginiaDave]

Your deduction abilities are astounding. Completely moronic and nonsensical but astounding all the same.

You'd be second in line to whine if this guy did attack the show and the police didn't stop him.

[Laura]

I really don't want to be arrested for the things I tweet.

[Laertes607]

It's the way that they say "our police judgment should trump that" as if they are never wrong and their shit doesn't stink

[VirginiaDave]

I really don't want to be arrested for the things I tweet.

Don't threaten to kill people and you're fine.

[VirginiaDave]

It's the way that they say "our police judgment should trump that" as if they are never wrong and their shit doesn't stink

So you're fine with the people at Twitter deciding what is and isn't a threat? Seriously, you can't be that dumb.

[observ]

It's the way that they say "our police judgment should trump that" as if they are never wrong and their shit doesn't stink

So you're fine with the people at Twitter deciding what is and isn't a threat? Seriously, you can't be that dumb.

I think that Twitter was absolutely right to require a subpoena/court order rather than handing info to the NYPD on demand and without legal process.

[VirginiaDave]

Asking for a subpoena is one thing. Declaring it not a threat makes them the ones who think they're all-knowing.

[Laertes607]

It's the way that they say "our police judgment should trump that" as if they are never wrong and their shit doesn't stink

So you're fine with the people at Twitter deciding what is and isn't a threat? Seriously, you can't be that dumb.

I think that Twitter was absolutely right to require a subpoena/court order rather than handing info to the NYPD on demand and without legal process.

Thank you observ. Don't waste too much of your breath as VD will never get it.

[observ]

Asking for a subpoena is one thing. Declaring it not a threat makes them the ones who think they're all-knowing.

The NYPD actually tried to jump jurisdiction and the legal process (a/k/a external review). I find that more troubling than anything Twitter "declared" while awaiting a subpoena.

[VirginiaDave]

I expect that kind of ignorance from Eric. All they did was ask, were told by the expert criminologists at twitter that it wasn't a threat and then told to get a subpeona. They didn't jump anything. Of course you're more troubled by some paper pushing bullshit more than a someone threatening to kill people.

[Laertes607]

I expect that kind of ignorance from Eric. All they did was ask, were told by the expert criminologists at twitter that it wasn't a threat and then told to get a subpeona. They didn't jump anything. Of course you're more troubled by some paper pushing bullshit more than a someone threatening to kill people.

I am more than happy to disappoint you. It's actually you who is ignorant when you give opinions that say the NYPD can just do whatever they want with no checks. The organization needs more oversight and many council members have said so, but of course bloomberg feels there is enough. I got the feeling during that speech that ray Kelly was under the podium giving him a blow job.

You already know that ray Kelly got caught lying on his ethics forms, right VD? He didn't put on his forms that he accepted free flights from mayor bloomberg on bloomy's private plane. Their relationship is dangerous and I cannot wait until Bloomy is gone as I think Kelly will be fired by whoever wins the election.

[VirginiaDave]

Stay on topic, derpy. They did nothing wrong in this case. Not one thing.

[observ]

I expect that kind of ignorance from Eric. All they did was ask, were told by the expert criminologists at twitter that it wasn't a threat and then told to get a subpeona. They didn't jump anything. Of course you're more troubled by some paper pushing bullshit more than a someone threatening to kill people.

That "paper pushing bullshit" involves a basic American value. It provides judicial oversight and a paper trail to keep government/law enforcement from acting on whim. The NYPD should have gotten a subpoena to begin with. It's neither an onerous task nor incompatible with "emergency," since judges are available 24 hours/day for that purpose.

[VirginiaDave]

They asked and didn't break any law doing it. I do love your continued concern for the potential threat. /sarcasm

[observ]

They asked and didn't break any law doing it. I do love your continued concern for the potential threat.

They could have handled the "potential threat" more quickly by getting a subpoena to begin with.

It's also about precedent: Law enforcement tends to see potential threats everywhere just as media companies see potential client lawsuits everywhere. Therefore I don't want police to operate sub rosa and/or without oversight any more than I want Twitter to have sole judgment.

[VirginiaDave]

It looks like they simply asked while the DA was getting the subpoena. That's very common. They didn't do anything wrong.

[observ]

It looks like they simply asked while the DA was getting the subpoena. That's very common. They didn't do anything wrong.

They sought the subpoena after Twitter refused.

[VirginiaDave]

Jesus. It was the same day. Contrary to what you might think you know, it takes more than five seconds to fill out a subpoena, get a judge to sign it and then deliver it to the crime experts at a web site.

I'm done. Like I said, the police did nothing wrong here and all the bleating is just that.

[Laertes607]

Jesus. It was the same day. Contrary to what you might think you know, it takes more than five seconds to fill out a subpoena, get a judge to sign it and then deliver it to the crime experts at a web site.

I'm done. Like I said, the police did nothing wrong here and all the bleating is just that.

Whoosh!!! Right over your head ..... If it is so easy then why didn't they get the subpeona first?? Answer that, derpy

[VirginiaDave]

Because they don't need one to ask. They can ask a company for anything they want. The company has the right to refuse and tell them to get a subpeona or warrant. That's what is happening here.

Read this slowly, dummy, they didn't do anything wrong. You know who did? The idiot who made the threats. Too bad your obsession prevents you from being remotely reasonable.

[observ]

Jesus. It was the same day. Contrary to what you might think you know, it takes more than five seconds to fill out a subpoena, get a judge to sign it and then deliver it to the crime experts at a web site.

I am well aware of that.

They communicated with Twitter via email between midnight Friday-2 am Saturday. They did not serve the subpoena until Tuesday. If they'd applied for it late Friday -- before emailing Twitter -- service would have happened sooner than three-and-a-half days later.

[Laertes607]

Because they don't need one to ask. They can ask a company for anything they want. The company has the right to refuse and tell them to get a subpeona or warrant. That's what is happening here.

Read this slowly, dummy, they didn't do anything wrong. You know who did? The idiot who made the threats. Too bad your obsession prevents you from being remotely reasonable.

VD, you have to realize you are the dummy. You are trying to justify that twitter was wrong in not giving the NYPD the info upon their request. Don't try to say this is not true, it's been blockquoted.

[Laura]

I really don't want to be arrested for the things I tweet.

Don't threaten to kill people and you're fine.

Oh... Uh.. No. I would never do that.

/soooo too late.

[naked rev. trish]

VD is not dumb -- just fruitless.

[VirginiaDave]

Because they don't need one to ask. They can ask a company for anything they want. The company has the right to refuse and tell them to get a subpeona or warrant. That's what is happening here.

Read this slowly, dummy, they didn't do anything wrong. You know who did? The idiot who made the threats. Too bad your obsession prevents you from being remotely reasonable.

VD, you have to realize you are the dummy. You are trying to justify that twitter was wrong in not giving the NYPD the info upon their request. Don't try to say this is not true, it's been blockquoted.

Show me where I said twitter was wrong other than declaring it wasn't a threat.

[bigwillthechamp]

In theory, it's an "open the flood gates" thing. You allow that to happen and other things become questionable.
On the other hand, if something did happen, someone would be blaming the police and twitter for not doing something about it.
It's pretty much a lose/lose situation, so why not go with the one that could prevent someone from repeating Aurora.
The average person isn't making legit threats on Twitter.

[abayridgeguy]

Twitter Gives Police Information on Source of Threatening Tweet
By CHRISTINA NG and RICHARD ESPOSITO | ABC News – 4 hrs ago

Twitter has now turned over information it had initially denied to NYC police about the user whose account issued threats of an attack "just like in Aurora" on the Broadway theater where Mike Tyson's one-man show is playing.
The New York Police Department subpoenaed Twitter Tuesday for the user's identity after the social media giant refused authorities' emergency request for the information.
"This s**t ain't no joke yo I'm serious people are gonna die just like in aurora," the user tweeted Aug. 1.
Police officials won't comment on whether they have spoken to the account's owner or the potential for any attack. Police said they have some indication of the direction their investigation might take, based on the information Twitter provided, but would not disclose it at this time.

The Twitter user's account seems to have been suspended because an error message now appears where the account was active as recently as Tuesday evening.

A few days before the Aug. 1 tweet, the unidentified person posted that he or she knew that the theater left its exit doors unlocked and was going to plan the shooting "step by step."
The NYPD Intelligence Division learned of the threat late Aug. 3 and used Twitter's system for emergencies to request the identity of the account holder, according to police officials.
"Twitter turned us down, so we dispatched police to cover the theater while we sought a subpoena to force Twitter to disclose the identity of the account holder," NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said in an emailed statement Tuesday.

Police officers were dispatched to New York's Longacre Theater where Mike Tyson's one-man show, "Undisputed Truth," is playing.

"We take the threat seriously, especially in light of recent attacks in Wisconsin and Colorado," Browne said.
Alleged shooter Wade Michael Page killed six people Sunday at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis. Page, an Army veteran, was shot dead by police. Two weeks earlier, on July 20, suspected shooter James Holmes opened fire in a packed midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises" in Aurora, Colo., killing 12 people and injuring 58.
Following email requests for comment from ABCNews.com, a spokeswoman for Twitter wrote, "We don't have a comment on this." She also sent a link to Twitter's guidelines for law enforcement.
"Twitter evaluates emergency disclosure requests on a case-by-case basis," the guidelines say. "If we receive information that gives us a good faith belief that there is an emergency involving the death or serious physical injury to a person, we may provide information necessary to prevent that harm, if we have it."

The guidelines also say that the release of private information "requires a subpoena or court order."

If Twitter had turned over the user's identity at the first request, it could have been liable for any mistake or potential invasion of privacy, according to Jennifer Granick, the director of civil liberties for Stanford Law School's Center for Internet and Society.

"The law prohibits providers from turning certain information over voluntarily and, if they do, they can be sued," Granick said Tuesday. "But the government can compel the information from the provider with varying degrees of legal process depending on what the information is. When it's the name associated with the account, the government can get that with just the subpoena."

The federal law is part of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, passed in 1986. There are exceptions to the law, Granick said. Exceptions can be made if there's a threat of serious bodily injury or death. But that first decision is up to the provider.

When another Twitter user asked the threatening tweeter on Aug. 3 whether he or she had undergone a change of heart about the prospective shooting at the Midtown Manhattan theater, the person replied, "no I had last minute plans and I'm in Florida rite now but it'll happen I promise I'm just finishing up my hit list."

The Twitter user made frequent references to his or her "hit list," making threats against many celebrities, including Ellen Page, Perez Hilton, Wendy Williams and several members of the Kardashian family.