"Verified" Twitter Accounts to Appear This Summer

• Author: admin
• Filed under: Tech News
• Date: Jun 8,2009

Fake Twitter accounts are nothing new, but a lawsuit by a “celebrity” over a fake Twitter account, that is news. Last month Tony La Russa sued Twitter over a fake account, and Twitter, in response, has said that later this summer they will start using a special seal on “Verified Accounts.”

Twitter’s blog post says:

Verified Accounts will feature a special seal.

We’ll be experimenting with a beta preview of what we’re calling Verified Accounts this summer.

The experiment will begin with public officials, public agencies, famous artists, athletes, and other well known individuals at risk of impersonation. We hope to verify more accounts in the future but due to the resources required, verification will begin only with a small set.

While this is a response to La Russa’s impersonated account, along with others, in response to LaRussa’s lawsuit, Twitter was very precise:

Impersonation violates Twitter’s Terms of Service and we take the issue seriously. We suspend, delete, or transfer control of accounts known to be impersonation. When alerted, we took action in this regard on behalf of St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa.

Reports this week that Twitter has settled a law suit and officially agreed to pay legal fees for an impersonation complaint that was taken care of by our support staff in accordance with our Terms are erroneous. Twitter has not settled, nor do we plan to settle or pay.

With due respect to the man and his notable work, Mr. La Russa’s lawsuit was an unnecessary waste of judicial resources bordering on frivolous. Twitter’s Terms of Service are fair and we believe will be upheld in a court that will ultimately dismiss Mr. La Russa’s lawsuit.

Well, let’s not forget just how litigious America is. The only winners in this lawsuit are probably the lawyers. My guess is Twitter was working on this before the incident. While it’s clear the tweets were demeaning, for some of it, La Russa has only himself to blame.

One of the tweets in question said:

“Lost 2 out of 3, but we made it out of Chicago without one drunk driving incident or dead pitcher.”

In 2007, La Russa was found sleeping behind the wheel of a running SUV in spring training with a blood-alcohol level of 0.093 percent. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence. For that, La Russa can only blame himself.

Reference to a dead pitcher, however, is a little morally bankrupt. Cardinals reliever Josh Hancock died in an auto accident in April 2007. The medical examiner measured his blood-alcohol level at 0.157, nearly twice the legal limit.