With the increased use of social media sites such as twitter there has been a massive increase in the amount of names registered there, in exactly the same way as you have described with domain names, of people and companies or places whereby the account holder is NOT the person or business in question.

The damage they have done (especially in celebrity or public figure circles) has been a highlight of news coverage worldwide recently, as people find out that they are being impersonated and subsequently their name or brand has been damaged. The problem here is that twitter registration of names is unmoderated so there are no barriers. Consider as well, its NOT JUST twitter. There are around 100 social networks, photo sharing sits, and profile sites wide open to this and the kicker is its totally FREE to register.

Looking at it from this perspective then, it will be the beginning of some long and troublesome days ahead as those who are slow on the uptake begin to adopt these new tools and realise that someone else already has and is continuing to “act” on their behalf in whatever fashion they wish. Then its the long and arduous process of addressing each of these sites individually in order to have the accounts returned to the rightful owner or have the accounts removed. Not a simple task, not an easy task and not a quick process.

Also bearing in mind that sometimes we wont have a leg to stand on, figuratively speaking, especially when it comes to personal names as you can not claim a personal name if someone else has registered it in advance. That is just your tough luck!

With the increased use of social media sites such as twitter there has been a massive increase in the amount of names registered there, in exactly the same way as you have described with domain names, of people and companies or places whereby the account holder is NOT the person or business in question.

The damage they have done (especially in celebrity or public figure circles) has been a highlight of news coverage worldwide recently, as people find out that they are being impersonated and subsequently their name or brand has been damaged. The problem here is that twitter registration of names is unmoderated so there are no barriers. Consider as well, its NOT JUST twitter. There are around 100 social networks, photo sharing sits, and profile sites wide open to this and the kicker is its totally FREE to register.

Looking at it from this perspective then, it will be the beginning of some long and troublesome days ahead as those who are slow on the uptake begin to adopt these new tools and realise that someone else already has and is continuing to “act” on their behalf in whatever fashion they wish. Then its the long and arduous process of addressing each of these sites individually in order to have the accounts returned to the rightful owner or have the accounts removed. Not a simple task, not an easy task and not a quick process.

Also bearing in mind that sometimes we wont have a leg to stand on, figuratively speaking, especially when it comes to personal names as you can not claim a personal name if someone else has registered it in advance. That is just your tough luck!