Some are circulating calls not to include usernames of Tweeters in Iran when we are ReTweeting their news. I disagree. Not only is this suicidal for the credibility of anything we are writing, allowing more room for misinformation and propaganda, but also I fail to see how this protects the Iranian bloggers’ security. If the Tweets are out in the cyberspace already, and if they can be found on the #iranelection stream, then what’s the point of hiding the username of the original tweeter?!! How are we protecting his/her security?!
Say a Tweeter saw Muhammad Ahmad, who’s a student activist he knows throwing a molotov cocktail at the police. The Tweeter wants to tweet this news: “A student is throwing molotov cocktail #iranelection.” Now that I can understand. You are protecting the demonstrators identity. But if the tweet is out there, then what’s the point of not mentioning the original username “RT @Tweeter: A student is throwing molotov cocktail #iranelection”?
There has been debate about this in the blogosphere recently, and I want to stress again that I’m for everyone working hard to source their tweets, whether by mentioning the username of the original tweeter or include links.
Please take time to read this posting by the Traveller Within.