Tweets are not private communications but instead are public communications. That’s the ruling of a judge in New York involved in charges against Malcolm Harris, a Brooklyn writer involved in the Occupy protests.

From the New York Times:

“The Constitution gives you the right to post, but as numerous people have learned, there are still consequences for your public posts,” Judge Sciarrino wrote. “What you give to the public belongs to the public. What you keep to yourself belongs only to you.”

Also from the Times in regard to why the now-deleted tweets are seen as relevant in the case:

Mr. Harris’s messages, which are no longer publicly available, are of interest to prosecutors because they may contradict an argument they expect him to make at trial: that the police led or escorted protesters off the pedestrian paths and into the bridge’s roadway.