<p>You know that blue bird Twitter uses as its mascot? Turns out it's really a stool pigeon. Two days ago, Twitter agreed to hand over the tweets and other information of one of its users to a New York municipal court.</p><p>To be fair to Twitter, the social network made a concerted effort to keep Malcolm Harris' records private, going further than most companies would to protect user privacy and -- more to the point -- absolve itself of the responsibility for what its users say.</p><p>[ Has Twitter changed its song? Check out Cringely's post "You have the right to remain silent on Twitter" and decide for yourself. | For a humorous take on tech industry shenanigans, subscribe to Robert X. Cringely's Notes from the Underground newsletter. | Get the latest insight on the tech news that matters from InfoWorld's Tech Watch blog. ]</p><p>In the end, Judge Matthew Sciarrino Jr. threatened to paw through the last two quarters of Twitter's private financial statements to come up with a fine large enough to sting. Twitter relented.</p><p><a href="http://www.infoworld.com/t/cringely/twitter-sings-canary-and-we-all-lose-202527">Keep reading...</a></p><p>Read also:</p><p><a href="http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/data-security/240007454">Twitter Gives Occupy Wall Street Protester&#039;s Tweets to Judge</a> (Wall Street &amp; Technology)</p><p><a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2012/9/17/headlines/twitter_hands_over_account_info_of_occupy_protester">Twitter Hands Over Account Info of Occupy Protester</a> (Democracy Now)</p><p><a href="http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/81409">Punch to user privacy as Twitter surrenders Occupy protester&#039;s tweets</a> (Network World)</p><p>Explore: <a href="http://news.google.com/news/more?pz=1&ned=us&ncl=dwAM1lVAsTqvrkMK9HonNFxI3oxxM">2,865 additional articles.</a></p>