US Soccer Star's BMW Firebombed in Scotland

(NEWSER) - Guatemalan authorities have arrested an IT worker who urged others on Twitter to withdraw their money from a state-run bank at the center of a murder controversy, the Guardian reports. “First concrete action should be (to) remove cash from Banrural and bankrupt the bank of the corrupt,” read the offending Tweet. The man is being held on $6,500 bail on charges of "inciting financial panic." More»

Twitter, Path blamed in privacy controversy

(NEWSER) - Leading smartphone apps are taking a lot more of our information than we realize. If you use Twitter's "Find Friends" feature, the company receives every phone number and email address in your address book—a fact that Twitter hadn't clarified, the Los Angeles Times reports. The company now says it will fix the problem. But it's just one of many companies storing user information with a view toward ultimately using it for advertising. More»

It involves whining about a sandwich

(NEWSER) - How to be an ace tweeter? Megan Garber at the Atlantic pores over a new study and starts her lesson with what not to do. This would be "The Most Annoying Tweet Imaginable":

• "BREAKING: Last week I had a #sandwich that was SO HORRIBLE, it made me want to #scream. Seriously, why can't they make better #sandwiches?"

That's what one company suing an ex-worker thinks

(NEWSER) - Do a company's Twitter followers belong to the firm, or to the employee doing the tweeting—and how much is each follower worth? The questions are at the heart of a lawsuit in South Carolina, report AP and the New York Times : An online tech review firm is suing a former employee who ran a company Twitter account. When Noah Kravitz left PhoneDog, he changed the name on the account and kept its 17,000 followers. The company says Kravitz owes it $2.50 per follower over 8 months, amounting to $340,000. More»

It's not a great time to ask customers to tweet 'luxury' suggestions

(NEWSER) - It’s been a rough stretch for Qantas. First, the Australian airline abruptly stranded customers around the world amid a contract fight with its unions; then those talks collapsed entirely; this week, the firm ticked off customers again with a contest on Twitter . It asked people to tweet their “dream luxury in-flight experience,” and customers were happy to oblige, Reuters reports. One wrote that luxury was “more than 3mins notice that the whole airline is on strike." More»