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    Twitter Suspends Popular Tweet-Filtering App

    By Joann Pan | Mashable – Tue, Jan 17, 2012

    Twitter has suspended the popular tweet-filtering app Proxlet for "violating terms" of its API rules.

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    Proxlet – which can be downloaded and installed as either a web extension or as a mobile app, including Twitter for iPhone, TweetDeck, Twidroyd and other Tweet clients – has come under fire for violating Twitter’s Developer API rules because the app used an exposed proxy URL that could have led to personal information being leaked or hacked.

    Proxlet allows users to block apps, mute other users, filter hashtags and provide more control over which content shows up. For example, Proxlet fans can filter out various subjects, from Foursquare updates to "Tim Tebow."

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    Details about the exact violation are unknown. However, third-party developers that have access to the content and information being shared between the 175 million registered Twitter users are bound to the site's rules.

    "Twitter may immediately suspend your access to the Twitter API or any Twitter Content (or if necessary, terminate this agreement with you) at any time," Twitted notes in its Developers Rules of the Road policies on its site.

    Twitter spokesperson Jodi Olsen told Mashable that the company enforced these rules to protect "our users and to keep the ecosystem fair for everyone."

    "In cases of suspension, we help developers make the adjustments necessary to comply with the Rules of the Road -- and we're currently working with Proxlet on this basis. After developers come into compliance with our terms, we reactivate them," Olsen said. "We ask all developers in the Twitter ecosystem to abide by a simple set of rules that are in the interests of our users, as well as the health and vitality of the platform as a whole."

    Twitter does not comment on specific cases, so Olsen declined to explain Proxlet's violation.

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    Proxlet creators Aaron White and Chris Ricca are currently working to fix the app. However, they said they are most surprised with how Twitter handled the situation.

    “Although we believe our original design was sound, we accept Twitter’s concern,” White said. “However, it was frustrating for us to be notified of their concern and shut down on the same day.”

    White said that the experience “wasn’t friendly,” even though various Twitter staff members are familiar with and use Proxlet.

    “Instead, we had thousands of confused users with broken web-experiences and native client experiences, who probably didn’t know the root of the cause,” White said, adding that Twitter should have given them more time to correct the issues before it was shut down.

    For updates about the status of the app, follow @proxlet on Twitter. Looking for another? Check out our guide to alternate tweet-filtering services.

    Do you use Proxlet or another Twitter filter? Should Twitter have reached out to Proxlet about their concerns before suspending the app? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

    This story originally published on Mashable here.

     

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