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Twitter emailed Congress tips on blocking hackers as Rep. Anthony Weiner struggled to explain how a picture of--allegedly--his bulging briefs made it onto the Internet through his Twitter account. "Some of you inquired today about the security of Twitter accounts," the company's Adam Sharp emailed, Politico's Scott Wong reports. "[N]ews reports of the past few days are a good reminder of the importance of actively protecting your account credentials." Sharp warned against weak passwords, suspicious links, and giving out passwords. But some lawmakers are not as scared of hackers as they are of themselves--one false tweet and their careers could be finished.
"Holding the keys to their accounts gives these lawmakers an authentic voice, but it also makes the embarrassing and even damaging incidents that much worse when they arise," Wong writes. "And they know it." Among the most visible congressional tweeters is Senator Claire McCaskill, whose staff set up with an account two years ago so she could tweet President Obama's inauguration. Her first tweet was about Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's hat, and "It was all downhill from there," a McCaskill aide joked to Wong. Only McCaskill has the password to her personal account, which she used recently to express a pretty common sentiment among ladies: feeling fat. Still, several blogs picked up the comment.
