A Case of Mistaken Twidentity
Log on to Twitter or Facebook, type in a celeb’s name, and you’ll most likely find a multitude of impersonators you have to wade through to find the star’s “official” account. For the likes of Britney Spears and Jonah Hill, this type of identity theft can be written off as the price of fame. A London court, however, isn’t taking it quite as lightly.
Last Thursday, the high court issued its first injunction to an impersonator via Twitter, stating that the anonymous micro-blogger was mimicking right-wing lawyer Donal Blaney through the handle @blaneysbarney. If all goes according to plan, the offending tweeter will be issued a message via a web link next time they open their account ordering them to stop posting and identify themselves to the High Court.
Obviously, this is a huge step towards regulating the anonymous abuse of the internet, and I’ll try doubly hard to restrain myself from creating an @JonasBrothers handle. But for all the average Joe tweeters out there, the fact that the notoriously slow legal system has not only acknowledged the micro-blogging site, but has used it to issue a writ is a huge validation of the site’s relevance and mass adoption.
Twitter addicts rejoice! The tweet is a legitimate form of communication—and you’ve got the court order to prove it.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 at 1:21 pm and is filed under social media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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