Prince Harry and Meghan took my Instagram name

#1

Post by shivinski » Thu, Apr 04, 2019, 1:14 PM UTC

Prince Harry and Meghan took my Instagram name
bbc.com

Re: Prince Harry and Meghan took my Instagram name

#2

Post by ct0 » Thu, Apr 04, 2019, 2:14 PM UTC

This goes to show that "your" handle on someone else's platform is never really yours. The only thing that can not be taken away from you is a domain name. Start hosting your voice via your own domain.

Re: Prince Harry and Meghan took my Instagram name

#3

Post by joekrill » Thu, Apr 04, 2019, 2:20 PM UTC

We may not have the full story here, but it doesn't seem like Instagram is disputing that they simply took it. I don't see anyone suggesting that they even attempted to contact the guy first. Outrageously poor way to handle things. Also, at what point does an Instagram account become "inactive"?

Re: Prince Harry and Meghan took my Instagram name

#4

Post by kgwxd » Thu, Apr 04, 2019, 2:23 PM UTC

ct0 wrote: post #2

This goes to show that "your" handle on someone else's platform is never really yours. The only thing that can not be taken away from you is a domain name. Start hosting your voice via your own domain.

I'm pretty sure there are many real world examples of domain names being taken.

Re: Prince Harry and Meghan took my Instagram name

#5

Post by smnrchrds » Thu, Apr 04, 2019, 2:27 PM UTC

ct0 wrote: post #2

This goes to show that "your" handle on someone else's platform is never really yours. The only thing that can not be taken away from you is a domain name. Start hosting your voice via your own domain.

Domain names can be taken away too, especially ccTLDs. It is harder to seize a domain, but as we have seen time and time again with TPB, Sci-Hub, Wikileaks, etc. you can lose your domain if entities with enough power and influence want it seized.

Re: Prince Harry and Meghan took my Instagram name

#6

Post by anonymousiam » Thu, Apr 04, 2019, 2:27 PM UTC

kgwxd wrote: post #4

ct0 wrote: post #2

This goes to show that "your" handle on someone else's platform is never really yours. The only thing that can not be taken away from you is a domain name. Start hosting your voice via your own domain.

I'm pretty sure there are many real world examples of domain names being taken.

One of the more famous examples was Mike Rowe's domain. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_v._MikeRoweSoft

Re: Prince Harry and Meghan took my Instagram name

#7

Post by hervature » Thu, Apr 04, 2019, 2:28 PM UTC

Typo in title: should be Prince not Price

Re: Prince Harry and Meghan took my Instagram name

#8

Post by oarsinsync » Thu, Apr 04, 2019, 2:28 PM UTC

smnrchrds wrote: post #5

ct0 wrote: post #2

This goes to show that "your" handle on someone else's platform is never really yours. The only thing that can not be taken away from you is a domain name. Start hosting your voice via your own domain.

Domain names can be taken away too, especially ccTLDs. It is harder to seize a domain, but as we have seen time and time again with TPB, Sci-Hub, Wikileaks, etc. you can lose your domain if entities with enough power and influence want it seized.

I'm not sure that 'especially' applies to ccTLDs any more than gTLDs. Especially since most (all?) gTLDs are covered by the same jurisdiction as the .us ccTLD.

Re: Prince Harry and Meghan took my Instagram name

#9

Post by pavlov » Thu, Apr 04, 2019, 2:30 PM UTC

So I guess you don't have any ownership over a URL path component on somebody else's server when you're not even paying for that hosting. Not particularly surprising...

Re: Prince Harry and Meghan took my Instagram name

#10

Post by yial » Thu, Apr 04, 2019, 2:32 PM UTC

I remember reading about this in their TOS years ago... I think they normally outline in under taking away names to give to rightful owners. (If you’re name is @apple for example ).

This seems like a poorly handled extension of that power.

But- truly just an example of how your use, data, name, etc on these services is really just at their whim.