Comments on: BBC publishes insult via Twitter. Or does it?

By: Twitter goldrush on the way. Old usernames to be released

Twitter goldrush on the way. Old usernames to be released — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:49:07 +0000

[...] own a trademark relating to the name. Back on my old blog 14sandwiches I covered the story of how the BBC got control of the @BBCNews name from someone who misused [...]

By: Twitter goldrush on the way. Old usernames to be released

Twitter goldrush on the way. Old usernames to be released — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 21:14:44 +0000

[...] own a trademark relating to the name. Back on my old blog 14sandwiches I covered the story of how the BBC got control of the @BBCNews name from someone who misused it.Besides that the only way to get Twitter to give you a username is if [...]

By: MartinSFP

MartinSFP — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 01:48:13 +0000

Were you the previous operator of the 'BBC' Twitter account?

The BBC has quite a few Twitter accounts for various purposes – they just hadn't thought to register 'BBC'. As 'BBC' is a trademark they'd be very likely to win it in a court of law. Twitter recognised that and handed it to the rightful owner. Consider how much harm could have been caused if that fake account had been used for more than mildly insulting one person. As Tom states above, there are all sorts of risks. It's only right that Twitter gave it to the BBC.

By: MartinSFP

MartinSFP — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 01:42:38 +0000

Everyone has the right to disagree with the BBC and to express their opinion. He's apologising over the mix-up of them not being in control of the 'BBC' account on Twitter.

By: Bill

Bill — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 00:51:47 +0000

Don't forget, it all started because he was calling the BBC a disgrace; why apologise?

By: Bill

Bill — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 00:49:15 +0000

Screw Twitter. They stole that account…….terms of services state cannot impersonate other twitter users doesn't it? BBC wasn't a user….they were still int he dark ages and still would be if it weren't for that account!

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 02:09:51 +0000

Thanks for the update Jem - well handled by Twitter and the BBC...
There are lessons to be learnt here by any brand.
Twitter squatting is the new domain squatting.
We got some of the screenshots you mentioned and blogged the story here:
http://is.gd/hHvq

By: BBC Takes Back Control of Rogue Twitter Account (Lessons for Brands) | native

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 17:38:59 +0000

[...] today Twitter Inc handed the account to the real BBC, after a BBC staff member complained to Twitter Inc. It’s been cleared of all previous tweets [...]

By: Jem Stone

Jem Stone — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:22:34 +0000

Further update. We've now taken back ownership of http://twitter.com/bbc/ at the BBC. At the moment we will just use it temporarily to direct users to the growing list of BBC DJs, presenters, journalists and programmes using twitter in all sorts of ways.

thanks again for highlighting this issue. btw: the original account has been deleted by Twitter.
so a few of the links above will now no longer work. Hope you took screenshots!

And thanks for the other advice about phishing and so on from other users. All appreciated.
Twitter responded to this promptly within a matter of hours btw. I'm going to DM Gary to apologise on behalf of the Beeb.

Jem Stone | http://twitter.com/jemstone/

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 00:31:29 +0000

Has the BBC been through every single tweet that came from this account to ensure that none of them have contained false financial information, links to phishing sites or any other content that didn't come directly from the BBC newsfeed?

If not, you should – quickly!
If everything's ok, you're very, very lucky.