{"id":886,"date":"2011-06-21T12:35:12","date_gmt":"2011-06-21T16:35:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www3.law.harvard.edu\/journals\/hlpr\/?p=886"},"modified":"2015-10-02T15:52:50","modified_gmt":"2015-10-02T15:52:50","slug":"dont-dick-around-on-twitter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/2011\/06\/21\/dont-dick-around-on-twitter\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t Dick Around On Twitter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jake Laperruque\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

In a recently released piece focusing on New York Congressman Anthony Weiner, the magazine \u201cMoment\u201d wrote:\u00a0\u201cAs part of a promise to his Twitter followers, he recently released a photo of himself . . . .\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Any guesses on how that sentence ends?\u00a0 It\u2019s \u201c\u2026on his big day as an awkward-looking 13-year-old boy, complete with a self-described 1970s Jewfro.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0The story<\/a>\u00a0came out a few days before Weiner-gate began; at that time it was nothing more than a flattering bio of the man who was gaining frontrunner status as the next mayor of New York City.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In the realm of politics, it\u2019s sometimes shocking how quickly things change.\u00a0 But while Weiner-gate reaches its conclusion, the impact that this sexting scandal will likely have on politics and the Internet is just beginning.\u00a0 Here\u2019s a few predictions about the changes we can expect:<\/p>\n

<\/span>The New Character Limit for Pols: O
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not surprising that Weiner hasn\u2019t tweeted since he literally got caught with his pants down (although that hasn\u2019t stopped\u00a0his page<\/a>\u00a0from gaining roughly 30,000 new followers).\u00a0 However, from now on all politicians will likely be restricted, regardless of their online conduct.<\/p>\n

When I managed campaigns, I forbid my candidates to tweet.\u00a0 The reason for this wasn\u2019t the fear of a perverse scandal like Weiner-gate, but rather an innocent misstatement that becomes politically damaging.\u00a0 Everyone says things that are inappropriate \u2013 or at least can be portrayed as such \u2013 in casual conversation.\u00a0 This is all the more true for politicians, who must constantly cater to a wide range of constituents, stay consistent on an endless array of policy stances, and maintain a carefully crafted image as a public figure.\u00a0 Twitter takes the ever-dangerous casual, quickly forgotten, conversatio and permanently records it in a publicly accessible place.\u00a0 This incident shows how permanent tweets can be, and how much damage they can cause.\u00a0 It\u2019s a lesson politician operatives will not forget.<\/p>\n

\n

A Watchful Eye on Social Networks<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the most disturbing parts of Anthony Weiner\u2019s scandal is the fact\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 that he nearly got away with it.\u00a0 By invoking the boogieman of the Internet \u2013 an anonymous hacker \u2013 Weiner almost brought the incident to an uneventful end.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It was only when he later acknowledged that the photo might be of him (while Weiner lied about\u00a0sending out<\/em>\u00a0lewd photos, apparently refusing to take credit for his bulging briefs was something he just couldn\u2019t bear to do) that things spun out of control, leading to the true story and his resignation.<\/p>\n

The public demands accountability and transparency from politicians in a variety of ways, from campaign activities to personal finances.\u00a0 The Internet, with its array of political uses, should be no exception. Weiner\u2019s faux-hacker is just one of many ways this medium can be abused: without regulation, politicians can manipulate the\u00a0image of their opponents<\/a>,\u00a0magnitude of their support<\/a>, and\u00a0the basic facts of their identity<\/a>.\u00a0 This scandal shows the need for regulation, transparency, and openness.<\/p>\n

New Media Mischief\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Weiner-gate unleashed a whole new type of scandal on the American public.\u00a0 And while the substance of political scandals hasn\u2019t varied all that much, the means of unveiling it are entirely new.\u00a0 Gone are the days of private investigators, sneaky phonetaps, and hidden cameras.\u00a0 Now all you need is a laptop.<\/p>\n

Even with heightened scrutiny, expect an unprecedented level of foul play online.\u00a0 While politicians themselves might be unwilling to engage in illicit activity, there are always outside supporters who are happy to\u00a0abandon civility<\/a>\u00a0for their cause.\u00a0 With\u00a0hacktivism at an all time high<\/a>, it seems highly likely that individuals or organizations will attempt to use hacking to uncover elected officials\u2019 dirty secrets, and use them to achieve political goals.\u00a0 And, given the example of Anthony Weiner\u2019s downfall, it appears that such efforts are bound to succeed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jake Laperruque\u00a0 In a recently released piece focusing on New York Congressman Anthony Weiner, the magazine \u201cMoment\u201d wrote:\u00a0\u201cAs part of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peZQka-ei","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}