The co-founder of Twitter said as more people share the details of their lives online, there are more risks for that information to be misused or passed out without their authorization.
Twitter was criticized Wednesday when it was revealed the company stored the contacts of iPhone users for a period of 18 months, if they used Twitter to search their iPhone contacts for Twitter accounts. Apple also was under fire because the company freely gives application developers access to iPhone contacts.
Biz Stone left his daily duties at Twitter last year, and wouldn't comment on the specific incident. However, he said such events will continue in a world where so much information is shared.
"I think inevitably when we share more, we'll see more value in that sharing, but we'll also make more mistakes. That just seems obvious to me," Stone said in a phone interview Wednesday. "I anticipate many more hiccups for mankind and social innovation."
He said, however, companies pay close attention to their users, and when they are upset about a policy, it is often changed very quickly.
"These large-scale systems that have millions of people using them tend to be selfpolicing," he said.
He added that's why he doesn't feel governments need to set limits on what companies can do with personal information.
For its part, Twitter announced Wednesday it would change its user agreement to make its practices more clear. Apple said from now on, it will require companies to get explicit permission before accessing contact lists.
Stone added, however, technology is evolving so fast that perhaps soon there will be better tools to manage personal information.
"I was speaking with a young entrepreneur recently who came up with a tool that when you share a piece of media, it disappears after 10 seconds, never to be seen again," Stone said. "Maybe things like this will become popular, and maybe information won't exist forever."
Stone said he believes if governments set limits to the Internet, it can discourage innovation. In the U.S. last month, there were wide protests when Congress attempted to pass two anti-piracy laws known collectively as SOPA and PIPA. The bills were later shelved.
In Canada, the government has introduced a copyright bill, and another bill known as the Lawful Access bill that would force telecommunications providers to monitor the activity of their users, and to pass on personal information to police when requested. Both those laws have been met with harsh criticism from net neutrality activists.
Stone said he's confident the free Internet will prevail in the end.
"I have a feeling that enough people will be able to come up with enough examples and reasons why openness encourages innovation and why we really need this at a time when we are looking to create more jobs and a more robust economy," he said. "I'm optimistic the right thing will prevail."
