Twitter agrees to better data security; Obama hacked

Jun 25, 2010, 4:47 GMT

Washington - Twitter Inc, the San-Francisco-based microblogging service, pledged to provide better security against hackers under pressure from the Federal Trade Commission.

The commission said Thursday in a statement that Twitter had pledged it would not mislead consumers about privacy protection for 20 years after lax security allowed hackers to infiltrate the service. The company won't have to pay a fine.

In one case, a hacker sent a false tweet, or message, in January 2009 from US President Barack Obama's Twitter account offering a chance to win 500 dollars of free gasoline.

News of the settlement came the same day that Obama joked with visiting Russian President Dmitry Medvedev about tweeting each other.

Medvedev sent his first Twitter message Wednesday from California, where he visited Twitter headquarters as part of his push for investment and talent for Russia's own Silicon Valley.

On Thursday, the two presidents met at the White House in Washington, where Obama referred to Medvedev's new account.

'I have one as well. ... We may be able to finally get rid of those old 'red phones,'' he said, referring to the Cold War-era security phones for emergency communications between the United States and Soviet Union.

Twitter allows account holders to send tweets, or messages up to 140 characters, with varying levels of privacy.