First, it was someone pretending to be Gov. Rick Perry's hair on Twitter. Now, there are Dallas-area traffic updates being Tweeted by a fake TxDOT Twitter account -- but TxDOT is much less amused than the governor.
Mike Orren at Pegasus News writes that TxDOT started Twitter feeds to let people in various parts of Texas know about traffic news, but didn't start one for the Dallas-Fort Worth area. So Orren says he claimed some Twitter handles -- @TxDOTDallas, @TxDOTFortWorth and @TxDOTDFW -- and started blasting out DFW-area traffic Tweets.
TxDOT did not think it was funny. First, they sent Orren a letter threatening him with criminal prosecution. Now, Orren has posted a second letter from TxDOT's top lawyer, accusing him of violating the state deceptive trade practices law. They also want Orren to stop using the Pegasus trademark because the agency has registered one for its Panhandle Electronic Guidance and Safety Information System.
This isn't the first time lawyers have gotten involved in a fake Twitter account fight. Tony LaRussa, manager of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team, tried to sue Twitter earlier this year after someone started a fake account in his name and began Tweeting content he thought objectionable. (You can read more about that case on the Citizen Media Law Project's Web site.)
So, when is the general counsel in the governor's office going to send a cease-and-desist letter to the people behind @GovPerrysHair?
But such fake accounts are far from few. PC World's Web site compiled a list of the funniest "phweeters" -- that's phony Tweeters -- including @WilliamShatner2, @abevigoda (who proudly Tweets that he's still alive), and @Nick_Nolte.
ADDENDUM, posted 10:21 a.m. Friday, Sept. 4: We omitted from our list of Twitter-squatters the fake Pat Lykos account, purporting to be Tweeting (including cuss words -- what is that called? Tweet-cussing?) on behalf of the Harris County district attorney, which caused recent controversy at the courthouse here. My apologies for not having included it earlier.
(Thank-you to BlogHouston for pointing this our way.)
Texas Watchdog is on Twitter at @texaswatchdog, and that's no fake.
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Fake Twitter account for traffic news has TxDOT in a lather
Thursday, Sep 03, 2009, 11:27PM CST |
By Jennifer Peebles
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Mike Orren
Friday, 09/04/2009 - 08:55AM
Hi Jennifer: I'm not sure it is accurate to characterize our traffic flow Twitter accounts as "fake" or to paint them with the same brush as Gov. Perry's hair (if only they were that funny.) These accounts were created for the sole purpose of encouraging our local TXDOT offices to pick up the slack. They have always been labeled as unofficial, but have provided real traffic and transport news for our area. We have offered to hand the accounts over to TXDOT on multiple occasions, but it is clear that they continue to harass us for reporting on this story-- If you'll read my entire post I think you'll come to a similar conclusion. |
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Jennifer Peebles
Friday, 09/04/2009 - 09:24AM
Mike, Point taken. I was trying to say that it's not uncommon for someone to "claim" a Twitter handle of some well-known person or entity and then begin Tweeting as them, and you're right, what you're Tweeting is not humorous like @govperryshair or the Abe Vigoda account. I think there is also an unofficial Nancy Pelosi Twitter account that also isn't humorous -- it's someone simply Tweeting news updates about what the House Speaker is doing. Take care, and thanks for reading us, Jennifer P. jennifer@texaswatchdog.org |
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