I completely agree. Twitter don't owe anything to anyone using their free services. I'm not arguing that Twitter is bound to any laws of decency, or due process. I am just debating that they should be.
The article doesn't just serve as an account of someone who was wrongfully burned by a company who couldn't care less. It serves as a warning for anyone else looking to foster a relationship with their community/fanbase/customers via Twitter.
I can absolutely get behind the sentiment, and I do believe stories like these should be put out there to serve as a reminder about the true nature of the services we all have come to rely on.
> I'm not arguing that Twitter is bound to any laws of decency, or due process. I am just debating that they should be.
This is where I think our opinions diverge. I don't believe it's reasonable or even possible to bind websites like this legally. But even if it was possible, I assert it's a very bad idea. The justice system in any country is extremely fallible and exploitable, and there are too many laws regarding the net already.
Instead, I think we should move back to a web that operates like a federation of services, as opposed to just giving the reins to a select few companies who make a living from selling advertising. Monolithic sites are great incubators for new ideas, such as Twitter and Facebook. But they're a terrible idea both technically and socially for safekeeping the world's data.
I wasn't implying that they should be bound by law to be decent, or use due process. I meant that they should be decent, and they should use due process, regardless.
Sorry, I misunderstood. Yes, they absolutely should be decent and I even think that Twitter et.al. wouldn't have gotten as far as they did if they hadn't demonstrated basic likability and decency in the past. However, even with the best intentions, stuff like this happens. It's just a matter of probability. Now, as a company grows larger, those good intentions disappear as well, essentially being replaced by a group of lawyers, some draconic ToS, and a couple of outsourced employees on minimum wage that get to decide individual users' fates without any possibility of recourse. This looks to me like an inherent problem of the system, the qualities that made up the spirit of a startup often dissolve over time.
The article doesn't just serve as an account of someone who was wrongfully burned by a company who couldn't care less. It serves as a warning for anyone else looking to foster a relationship with their community/fanbase/customers via Twitter.