BEST OF THE WEB

Musk asks Twitter whistleblower for spam and security details

Elon Musk has subpoenaed Twitter whistleblower Peiter Zatko to get paperwork about the company’s spam and alleged security flaws, in addition to how it quantifies spam accounts, as the billionaire fights to stop the deal to buy Twitter for US$44 billion.

Twitter’s former chief security officer, Peiter Zatko, had previously filed a whistleblower complaint alleging that Twitter misled federal regulators about safeguards against hackers and spam accounts.

Ann Lipton, a professor at Tulane University Law School, says the details Musk receives from Zatko could allow him to bring new fraud charges to his lawsuit. Given the short timeline of the case and Musk’s failure to conduct proper research before the deal is finalized, it is uncertain whether the judge will allow Musk to make those claims.

On October 17, the two parties will begin a five-day trial. Musk wants to pull out of the deal, and Twitter wants him to buy the company at the agreed price of US$54.20 per share because they have always insisted that the spam counts were just estimates, not binding representations.

The sources for this piece include an article in Reuters.

IT World Canada Staff
IT World Canada Staffhttp://www.itworldcanada.com/
The online resource for Canadian Information Technology professionals.

Would you recommend this article?

Share

Thanks for taking the time to let us know what you think of this article!
We'd love to hear your opinion about this or any other story you read in our publication.


Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

Featured Download

ITW in your inbox

Our experienced team of journalists and bloggers bring you engaging in-depth interviews, videos and content targeted to IT professionals and line-of-business executives.

More Best of The Web