story archived here in case it did/does go down:
How I Lost My $50,000 Twitter Username
131–140 of 394 posts
Re: How I Lost My $50,000 Twitter Username
#132Earlier quoted context omitted.
While sympathetic - I'm also slightly amused at your twisted view about twitter name/account "ownership"… Just how much of the "real world" law you're alluding to by using the term "ownership" do you suppose applies to Twitter handles? (or Gmail addresses, or Facebook pages, or even domain names?)
The twitter namespace is property of Twitter alone. It's cute that there are those who think the "owners" of these names would be each user.
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Re: How I Lost My $50,000 Twitter Username
#133This is a scary story! Focusing on the Twitter handle sale part: I have the twitter handle @jetsetter, and have been offered multiple thousands of dollars for it (guess who!). Unfortunately, selling a twitter handle is against TOS. Only @israel has been officially allowed to transfer hands for money, that I'm aware of. So trying to broker the sale of a twitter account can allow the buyer to report your 'behavior' to…
If you're refering to this: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/sep/14/twitter-us... at the bottom a twitter representative is quoted as saying that as long as they give you permission to sell/buy a handle they won't block/lock the account. Also apparently CNN also purchased a handle[1]. [1] http://www.businessinsider.com/cnn-acquires-cnnbrk-twitter-a...
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Re: How I Lost My $50,000 Twitter Username
#134Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm a very casual and infrequent tweeter, and I can't fathom how that makes my username 'up for grabs'. Sorry you have such a twisted view of username ownership :/
Oh it definitely doesn't make your username 'up for grabs'. What happened to you totally sucks and I hope you manage to get your account back. That being said if you're not actually going to use your account you might want to at least consider giving it to someone who would put it to more active use. Just a thought.
This COULD make sense. Are all other names taken up on twitter? Is it difficult to tweet without using the @N name? I never used twitter before.
Re: How I Lost My $50,000 Twitter Username
#135Heads really ought to start rolling at PayPal. Their general approach to security is, quite frankly, appalling. Is there any possible rational for Paypal to give the last four digits of his card number to "him" over the phone? Given that they're routinely used for verification, it's as if they've never heard of social engineering. It's simply inexcusable. And it's almost as bad as the ridiculous "Log In Without Your…
The attacker was posing as a PayPal employee, not the card owner. Of course, PayPal still needs better security, but posing as an employee of the same company is a classic social engineering exploit.
And that part was never really answered either. How can he pose as an employee calling in from an outside line? Does PayPal not tell you when an extension from PayPal is calling you?
Re: How I Lost My $50,000 Twitter Username
#136Earlier quoted context omitted.
While sympathetic - I'm also slightly amused at your twisted view about twitter name/account "ownership"… Just how much of the "real world" law you're alluding to by using the term "ownership" do you suppose applies to Twitter handles? (or Gmail addresses, or Facebook pages, or even domain names?)
The twitter namespace is property of Twitter alone. It's cute that there are those who think the "owners" of these names would be each user.
Well, OK, but a certain level of assured "ownership" is beneficial to everybody. Twitter handles, email addresses, mailing addresses, phone numbers, etc., would not be very useful if Twitter, ISP, postal service, telcos, etc. frequently exercised the right to deny access to previous users at any time.
Seeing how easily GoDaddy handed over the domain, it seems one can't even own a domain properly, and that is supposed to be a lot closer to an "ownership" right than Twitter handles.
Re: How I Lost My $50,000 Twitter Username
#137Earlier quoted context omitted.
> A better analogy would be an owner of a valuable piece of property who wasn't putting it to good use. So if you were not putting your backyard to good use you would not feel too bad if your neighbors decided to encroach on it?
I think you're deliberately not hearing what I'm saying. Here's a good analogy: Some rich guy buys an amazing house on a beautiful California beachfront. But then never even bothers to stay there because he's got 3 other vacation homes. It just sits there empty all year long. Would it be ok for someone to break in and start living there? No, of course not. But you do have to kind of dislike that guy right? If he does…
EXACTLY. Same thing happened to a friend of mine who was working overseas all year long.
Somebody just moved in and started living in his house. And just tossed all of his personal belongings out.
To be honest, I kind of disliked my friend for a while.
Re: How I Lost My $50,000 Twitter Username
#138An interesting point made was to avoid using custom domains for the login emails, since a DNS takeover would compromise your accounts tied to that email.
This is quite frustrating. I don't use Gmail or Google Apps mail, so that I can't be compromised by a malicious insider (however unlikely) or a flaw in their authentication systems. Instead my security is exactly as weak as my registrar's authentication.
Re: How I Lost My $50,000 Twitter Username
#139Earlier quoted context omitted.
No. But I'd feel less bad for that person than someone who drove their Mercedes every day and had it stolen. Also, a Mercedes and a twitter handle (or domain name) aren't exactly the same thing as a twitter handle is a unique owner of a particular pice of the namespace. A better analogy would be an owner of a valuable piece of property who wasn't putting it to good use.
> A better analogy would be an owner of a valuable piece of property who wasn't putting it to good use. So if you were not putting your backyard to good use you would not feel too bad if your neighbors decided to encroach on it?
Yes. This is the point of adverse possession: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adverse_possession
Land should not remain unused.
Re: How I Lost My $50,000 Twitter Username
#140Seems like Twitter could easily verify the story based on their own logs and then restore access to his N account. He doesn't mention pursuing that, though.
He said he wasn't using it much. Thus, isn't he basically a squatter?
He's definitely a squatter. If you own something and you don't use it, you're a squatter. I own an old original Nintendo that I haven't used all year. That's why if someone comes into my house and takes it, it's my own fault.