Twitter’s continued resistance to comply with a subpoena to release tweets from Occupy Wall Street protestor, Malcolm Harris, has placed the blue bird in deep dodo with a New York State Supreme Court Judge Matthew A. Sciarrino Jr.

According to Bloomberg, Judge Sciarrino has given Twitter until September 14 to turn over either Harris’ tweets or Twitter’s earnings statements from the last two quarters – so he can decide on a fine!

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In the past week, authorities have arrested two Mexicans for tweeting false rumors of shootouts at local schools and charged them with terrorism, a man has been brought to court by the FBI for cyberstalking and harassment of a Buddhist leader on Twitter, and a college student in Des Moines was arrested for a fake Twitter bomb threat on his school.

There’s a battle going on right now between free speech advocate and the authorities over what constitutes terrorism, harassment and defamation on Twitter. In a spate of recent cases across the world, Twitter is being put to the test – is it a vehicle for private thought? Or a public forum which can be manipulated?
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In an effort to shed some light on the perceived failings of a school in Brighton, Sussex, students have created a parody Twitter account that’s getting a lot of attention. Their school, Varndean College, has tried to force Twitter to shut down the account, but so far the company’s not budging. Is this a case of a prankster taking it too far, or a victory for freedom of expression?
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By now, you’ve likely heard about the Paul Chambers “bomb threat” fiasco on Twitter. The recent surge of support for Chambers and, more generally, free speech on the internet has taken over Twitter by storm, with the #IAmSpartacus trending topic becoming a gathering place for people who want to show their solidarity. So why did this issue blow up, so to speak, over Twitter while others faded into obscurity? And what does this say about the power of the many?
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