

NBC Retracts Complaint, Guy Adams Is Back On Twitter - akshxy
http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/31/nbc-retracts-complaint-guy-adams-is-back-on-twitter/

======
kmfrk
In other words, Twitter can and may end your account on a whim, and unless you
can drum up sufficient attention, you'll get PayPal'd.

How can Twitter _still_ not have explained themselves? It makes them look
extremely shitty, and they've had ample opportunity to come out of this
looking like well-behaved guys. Maybe they didn't find it a PR priority.

Recall that this is not the first time something like this has happened:
<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2647130>.

\- - -

EDIT 50 minutes later: They explained themselves:
[http://blog.twitter.com/2012/07/our-approach-to-trust-
safety...](http://blog.twitter.com/2012/07/our-approach-to-trust-safety-
and.html).

~~~
rickmb
Twitter's explanation includes the word "apologize", but never states cleary
what exactly they are apologizing for. Encouraging NBC to file a complaint? A
complaint they still claim is justified? You can't apologize and say you did
the right thing at the same time. "Sorry I hit you, but you had it coming."

They continue to defend the decision to suspend the account because it
contained "private" information, claiming they can't make the distinction
(big.boss at bigco.com, gimme a break...), even though by now various media
have dug up plenty of incidents where publishing unambiguously private
information has not lead to suspension.

And to add insult to injury: the account wasn't restored because Twitter
reversed their decision, but because _NBC retracted the complaint_.

Seems to me like NBC giveth and NBC taketh away. Twitter merely apologizes
for, well, what exactly? Being the messenger?

~~~
cbabraham
The blog post clearly apologizes for contacting NBC about the tweet content.

"we do not proactively report or remove content on behalf of other users no
matter who they are. This behavior is not acceptable and undermines the trust
our users have in us. We should not and cannot be in the business of
proactively monitoring and flagging content"

Also, the blog post says the account would have been restored as soon as Guy
Adams responded to their email and acknowledged the TOS. Complaint retraction
or not.

~~~
rickmb
They also state that they neither proactively reported the content (they
encouraged NBC to do so), nor did they remove it on behalf of NBC (they claim
independent action based on their policy).

In other words, they deny having done what they consider not acceptable, so
that can't be what they are apologizing for.

"I absolutely didn't hit you. I'm apologize. I never hit people, that would be
unacceptable."

Doesn't make any sense. They just stuck the word "apologize" in between saying
how they did nothing wrong and denouncing something they claim they didn't do
in the first place.

So the account would have been restored if Guy Adams did as they told him.
That's just the standard "he shouldn't have resisted arrest" line of
deflection.

Stating how right you are and always have been is quite the opposite of an
apology. It's not even a well constructed "non-apology apology", it's just
randomly inserting the word "apologize".

------
amitparikh
Twitter has released a statement on the issue:
[http://blog.twitter.com/2012/07/our-approach-to-trust-
safety...](http://blog.twitter.com/2012/07/our-approach-to-trust-safety-
and.html)

------
jgmmo
Twitter has been compromised. They may backpeddle all they want, but they have
shown their hand. They will pull tweets and accounts when it serves their
interest.

------
riffic
Twitter is not a public utility. If you want to put your namespace in the
hands of a private company that offers their service for free, then by all
means use them.

Organizations that want to retain control of their own namespace should host
an OStatus compliant service on their own infrastructure.

~~~
darkarmani
If you want to take to that level of absurdity, we should all be hosting our
own DNS systems, so we aren't dependent on other entities.

With sufficient backlash at twitter, we can reduce the possibility of this
happening.

~~~
riffic
DNS is distributed. There's only one Twitter.com

See the problem in that?

Furthermore, there isn't just one DNS:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_DNS_root>

------
drawkbox
Twitter's 'Olympic Moment' will go down as their jump the shark moment
possibly.

Maybe a new meme is when a useful/cool service sells out/gets taken over by
the suits/turns on developers it is the 'Olympic Moment' in that services
lifespan, representing that it is all downhill from here.

------
Zenst
Have NBC (aka NoBloodyClue) made a official statement saying they retracted?

Also given this story: [http://www.wetpaint.com/network/articles/justin-
bieber-posts...](http://www.wetpaint.com/network/articles/justin-bieber-posts-
another-random-phone-number-on-twitter-facing-lawsuit-this-time)

Then I'd have to ask - by what standards twitter operate on as his account is
still active.

maybe if the internet went into uproar about it then sanity would prevail upon
that one as well.

But glad to see Mr Adams restored for a crime he did not commit.

