Privacy Lost: Twitter Surrenders @Skype Registrant Info to Skype

We know that there are procedures to follow when someone squats your domain name. There are documents to be filed, people to contact, etc.

What happens, however, when someone grabs a popular company’s Twitter name?

Apparently, it’s a non-issue because Twitter will just hand over your information to that company at will.

Not long after Twitter hit the scene, Stephanie Robesky of Atomico, the venture fund formed by the former founders of Skype, registered the @Skype Twitter account while still working for the company.

She then forgot about it, only to be reminded after she found out that a Twitter employee had released her contact information to an employee at Skype, who proceeded to contact her.

In an open letter to Twitter yesterday, Stephanie blogged:

“This is a violation of my privacy and, quite honestly, probably a big violation of your privacy policies. It is unprofessional of your team to hand out users information regardless of circumstances and this is something that we never would have done at Skype – even if Obama himself couldn’t log in to an account that he says wasn’t even his! I hope that you and your team take privacy more seriously in the future.”

A snide response from Twitter conveys a brash attitude to ‘Twitter name resolution’. The note accuses Robesky of abusing Twitter’s terms of service…

From: XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX
Sent: 07 April 2009 16:31
To: Stephanie Robesky
Subject: Re: Skype name account

Hi Stephanie,
I was informed by a representative of Skype that you had set-up
the account on their behalf but you were no longer an employee
and they did not have access to the account. In such situations we
do release the account to them.

Just curious why you didn’t turn over the keys to your employer before
you left the company? In which case, you’re violating our Terms of
Service by squatting on the user name.

Cheers,
XXXXXXXX

Let’s see, Twitter’s TOS reads:

We reserve the right to reclaim usernames on behalf of businesses or individuals that hold legal claim or trademark on those usernames.

Hmmm, it doesn’t seem to say, “Oh, by the way, we will hand over your contact information to them as well.

In fact, here’s what it says on their Privacy page:

Twitter is very concerned about safeguarding the confidentiality of your personally identifiable information. We employ administrative, physical and electronic measures designed to protect your information from unauthorized access.