Lawyers Enter Twitter Tempest - NYTimes.com

I recently blogged about Identity Squatting and how it's been a problem for a friend of mine. The issue is now being challenged in the form of a "satirist" not only tweeting but also blogging using a Daily News food critic's byline and name. This situation pushes the argument that the fake posts are a creative writing exercise in parody and legitimate entertainment - you know like the Daily Show or Saturday Night Live.

One question is whether Mr. Rucinsky’s writing exercise, with a few more than 300 followers on Twitter and minimal blog traffic, is legitimate parody. Or does he mimic Ms. Freeman so closely that, despite recent disclaimers on his sites, a reasonable reader might not be able to tell the difference?

This issue has been bubbling to the surface as Twitter gains mainstream mind share. Ashton Kutcher's recent challenge to CNN founder Ted Turner that he would beat CNN as the first Twitterati to get 1 million followers (I don't get why Ted Turner gets punk'd here but it sure got peoples attention and a lot of mosquito nets for a good cause). Ironically, the CNN Twitter handle, @ccnbrk, was not actually owned by CNN, but rather was maintained by an individual user, James Cox. CNN remedied this by acquiring the account, which lead to further brouhaha, and a services contract for Mr. Cox, since selling free account names violates Twitter usage policy.

Lawyers Enter Twitter Tempest - NYTimes.com