Twitter snuffs an Olympics critic: smart play or censorship?

NBC asked Twitter to suspend the account of a journalist who has been a prominent critic of its Olympics coverage. Twitter — an NBC partner — complied. Is this censorship or is there some other explanation?

The media is fuming over Twitter’s decision to suspend the account of a British journalist who used the micro-blogging site to toss barbs at NBC’s decision to time-delay its Olympic coverage over the weekend. The episode raises questions about free speech and corporate control of social media platforms.

For anyone who missed it, the brouhaha began this morning when sports site Deadspin reported that Twitter had cut off Guy Adams, an LA-based reporter for The Independent. Adams has been a standard bearer for the new #nbcfail hashtag and used his account to rattle off a series of British-inflected tirades about NBC’s time delay: “‘Sneak peak’ my arse”; ”tosspot”; “Matt Lauer would do well to shut up, wouldn’t he?” and so on.

Adams apparently crossed a line when he published the email address of NBC executive Gary Zenkel and told followers to “Tell him what u think.” NBC complained to Twitter and shortly after the micro-blog site suspended Adams’ account.

Critics have since called attention to the fact that Twitter has partnered with NBC’s parent company to promote the games, and suggested that the companies decided to shut down Adams’ account as an act of reprisal.

In an email message to Adams, Twitter explained the account had been suspended because he had violated terms of service that forbid disclosing private information like a person’s telephone number or private email address. Deadspin and others have noted that gary.zenkel@nbcuni.com is a corporate address.

So who is right? Did Adams overstep a boundary or are Twitter and NBC wrongfully censoring a journalist? Well, from a legal point of view, Twitter is in the clear. The company’s terms of service make it plain that it can boot users off the site anytime and for any reason.

Twitter’s moral position is a lot more shaky. Its reason for tossing Adams is flimsy (the email he printed was not private) and, worse, they simply caused him to disappear altogether. If you search @guyadams on Twitter, the company will suggest users with similar handles but the original Guy Adams has simply vanished in the same way that disgraced communists would vanish from Kremin photographs.

This policy of “disappearing” people without a trace is unhealthy and something Twitter should reconsider. The site has bravely opposed police gag orders and published a groundbreaking transparency report to highlight government censorship.

In the future, Twitter should show who it is barring from the site and explain why. In the meantime, it should give Guy Adams his account back.

(Image by Rui Vale de Sousa via Shutterstock)

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How Google's Android Operating System is Taking Over the Smart Phone Market

When Google first introduced the Android operating system, few doubted that the search engine giant would be a major player in the smart phone market. The first release, the G1 on T-Mobile, opened to lackluster sales and there was concern that perhaps Google didn't have the focus needed to compete with Apple and Microsoft. Sales were lukewarm and it debuted on T-Mobile, the fourth rank wireless carrier in the US behind Verizon, AT&T and Sprint. In September 2009, Google's Android OS accounted for just 2.5% of the smartphone market. That number is now well over 13%. RIM is still entrenched in the first position, but their inability to offer an updated OS has seen their sales numbers drop each quarter. So how is Google taking over the smart phone market?

No doubt that Apple revolutionized how we think about smart phones. While hardware and OS are important, the ability to offer a robust selection of applications is so much more important to creating a successful platform. Google's engineers are software experts and they understand the needs of developers. Google's Android OS has seen a tremendous growth in the number of developers and more importantly the number of applications. At last check, there were well over 70,000 applications in the Android Market, Google's version of Apple's App Store. One of the significant differences between the two stores is the approval process. Google's App Market is completely open and applications do not require any sort of approval process. A $30 application fee is all that is needed to begin selling applications. Google's easy to use SDK and open App store have helped foster a bustling App Market.

It goes beyond apps and Google knows this. Customers crave the latest and greatest hardware. Google has partnered with leading manufacturers like HTC, Motorola and Samsung. Google doesn't charge a license fee for Android OS, making easier for these manufacturers to make money. By having a few manufacturers, Google has created competition between them. Ultimately, this has led to a specifications war. Since they all run a version of Google's Android OS, they need to compete on features. Consumers will ultimately choose their Android phone based upon the number of megapixels offered in the camera, the type of display used or the speed of the processor. In the past year, we've seen companies like HTC and Motorola push the envelope with 4.3 inch screens.

With an install base that increases daily, there is more incentive for developers to write apps for the Android OS. By the end of 2010, the Android Market will likely have over 100,000 available apps. With hardware manufacturers pushing the envelope and a healthy application store, expect more demand among consumers for Android phones. While RIM struggles, Google's Android OS is slowly taking over the smart phone market.

Michael is a writer for Everything Android where he writes reviews of Droid X cases and provides daily news coverage on all things Android. When he's not writing, you can often find him helping out new users in the site's Android forums.

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