In a slightly surprising move, given the extent to which Google and Facebook have been compliant in handing data over to government enquiry, Twitter filed a motion (PDF) yesterday to block a subpoena that would force the company to turn over the data of one of its users, an arrested Occupy Wall Street protestor.

Malcolm Harris was arrested in an Occupy Wall Street protest on the Brooklyn Bridge in October for “disorderly conduct.” The New York City Criminal Court ordered Twitter to hand over Harris’ account data as well as whatever tweets he posted over a three month period around the time of his arrest.

Twitter’s lawyers are claiming that the subpoena violates the fourth amendment – as well as Twitter’s terms of service, which say that users’ tweets belong to users and thus can’t be handed over to law enforcement without consent.

Which is, yes, a minor victory for one dude’s internet privacy. But if it suggests a trend in internet companies stepping in to protect user data from government probes, that’s sort of a big deal.

[Source: Wired]