Teen Tweeter Is No Hero

'I raised my kids to be free thinkers,' says mom of Emma Sullivan

(NEWSER) - A Kansas teen who blasted her conservative governor in a tweet is refusing to apologize—even though she has been ordered to do so by her school. "Just made mean comments at Gov. Brownback and told him he sucked, in person #heblowsalot," Emma Sullivan, 18, tweeted to pals during a speech by Gov. Sam Brownback at a Youth in Government event. In fact, she didn't diss him to his face, but was "just joking" with friends, she explained later. However, Brownback's aides, who monitor tweets about their guy, complained to Sullivan's school, reports the Kansas City Star . But Emma is defying her principal's orders to write a letter of apology. "I would do it again," the self-described liberal told AP . "I've decided not to write the letter but I hope this opens the door for average citizens to voice their opinion and to be heard," she tweeted. More»

Not good enough, says Emma Sullivan

(NEWSER) - The mighty Kansas tweeter teen has turned the tables on a miffed governor, who is now apologizing to her. Self-described liberal Emma Sullivan, 18, tweeted a diss against Governor Sam Brownback while he was giving a speech at a Kansas youth event last week. His aides, who monitor the Twitterverse, tattled on the high school senior, and her principal demanded she write a letter of apology. She refused . Now Brownback's embarrassed. “My staff over-reacted to this tweet, and for that I apologize," he said in a statement yesterday. "Freedom of speech is among our most treasured freedoms." But he's hardly off the hook with Emma. More»

(NEWSER) - The delightfully profane dad who's the unwitting star of the August Twitter sensation "shitmydadsays," where his recently-moved-back-home son posts his cranky rants about making messes and dodging chores, may not be quite as clueless as he's been made out to be. Sam Halperin is actually a 73-year-old with a long career in nuclear medicine, the Los Angeles Times reports, and his Justin, is actually a writer at Maxim. More»

Jennifer Egan's 'Black Box' serialized on Twitter

(NEWSER) - The latest story from a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer will appear in 140-character chunks. The New Yorker is publishing Jennifer Egan's "Black Box" in installments on Twitter, the New York Observer reports. The tweets, which began yesterday , will appear from 8pm to 9pm every day for nine days. They'll also be collected each day at the magazine's Page-Turner blog . The whole story will appear in Monday's science fiction issue of the New Yorker. More»

Users have rights to all content, company argues

(NEWSER) - Twitter is fighting a subpoena demanding tweets of an Occupy protester on trial in Manhattan. The outcome of the battle could have a major impact on tweeters' privacy. The company is arguing that Twitter has no claim on a user's communication, and therefore has no right to turn them over to a court. Prosecutors are seeking three months of tweets written by protester Malcolm Harris, who was busted on the Brooklyn Bridge last year along with 700 other Occupy activists. Harris filed his own motion to quash the subpoena, contending there's "no justification" for access to "such a broad swath of electronic data." But the judge threw out the motion, ruling that the tweets don't belong to him and he has no standing to fight for them. More»