Twitter to Start Logging URL Mouse Clicks

Posted 09/02/2010 at 6:45am | by Paul Lilly

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Twitter sent out an email on Wednesday announcing a couple of upcoming updates, one of which includes automatic t.co link wrapping. In the coming weeks, Twitter's link wrapping service will intercept all URLs posted on the microblogging service and convert them into shorter, easier to read URLs. So what exactly has privacy mavens up in arms? This little tidbit:

"When you click on a wrapped link, your request will pass through the Twitter service to check if the destination site is known to contain malware, and we will then forward you on to the destination URL ... When you click on these links from Twitter.com or a Twitter application, Twitter will log that click. We hope to use this data to provide better and more relevant content to you over time," the microblogging site said.

Before you reach for the pitchforks and lighter fluid, keep in mind Twitter isn't the only one harvesting your click activity. As CNET points out, Yahoo tracks user searches, Bing and Facebook both appear to use JavaScript to keep track of where users click through to, and even Google sometimes uses redirects. And don't forget that everything you tweet ends up at the Library of Congress.

Even so, this will come as little consolation to privacy advocates who view this move as a "disgusting data landgrab."