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Re:Twitter account suspension prompts user backlash by zippie on Tuesday July 31, 2012 @11:46AM (#4317822)
Whether or not the e-mail address could be found out with "30 seconds of free time and access to Google" is irrelevant. Posting private information about someone violates twitter's TOS and therefore the account was banned.

The fact it's someone who criticized a sponsor of twitter is irrelevant because that account would not have been suspended if an e-mail address (personal information) had not been posted.

Re:Twitter account suspension prompts user backlash by jonknee on Tuesday July 31, 2012 @12:07PM (#4317949)
It's the fact that they don't enforce this policy that makes it controversial. How about to email Tim Cook about something? Plenty of tweets with [email protected] in them.
Re:Twitter account suspension prompts user backlash by zippie on Tuesday July 31, 2012 @12:31PM (#4318090)
His e-mail is public information - it's widely available on Google. Gary Zenkel's is not.

http://searchengineland.com/nbc-olympic-executives-email-was...

Beyond that, how would you like it if your e-mail, home address was tweet'ed out and you were heckled?

Re:Twitter account suspension prompts user backlash by jonknee on Tuesday July 31, 2012 @12:45PM (#4318205)
Tim Cook's email is widely available because of people other than Tim Cook posting it without asking permission, much like Mr Zenkel. I could guess all the other NBC executive emails too. Since emails usually bounce when incorrectly addressed it's very easy to get the format for any company. The more important information in the Tweet was that this was the specific executive to contact. I might have tried [email protected] because I didn't know any better.

If I was an executive and someone publicized my [email protected] email address I would not be upset in the least. I'd be more worried about the reason I was getting heckled--my job performance.

Re:Twitter account suspension prompts user backlash by pessimizer on Tuesday July 31, 2012 @12:55PM (#4318288)
You, and searchengineland, are fixating on the word "widely." At the last company I worked at, my work email was in a single place - on the site of my company, on the contact page. According to the searchengineland examination of the word "widely" (which I'm not disagreeing with, and I think is a poor choice of words), it was not widely available.

Maybe "clearly" available is a better word? But fixating on the word "widely" is clearly a red herring, and is clearly not something that searchengineland is advancing as a reasonable criterion for a TOS violation, and is clearly being intentionally obtuse.

Re:Twitter account suspension prompts user backlash by ceol on Tuesday July 31, 2012 @01:08PM (#4318372)
The parent isn't fixated on the word "widely"— you are. Your entire comment talks about how "widely" is a poor word choice and, in doing so, misses the parent's point.

Swap out the word "widely" with the word "intentionally" if it makes you feel better, but don't claim red herring when the word was obviously used in an off-handed manner.

Re:Twitter account suspension prompts user backlash by pessimizer on Wednesday August 01, 2012 @10:11AM (#4322928)
I was commenting on the link offered as evidence, which was fixated on the word widely. Any company that uses [email protected] is intentionally making emails available.
Re:Twitter account suspension prompts user backlash by ceol on Tuesday July 31, 2012 @01:12PM (#4318397)
Tim Cook's email being posted around the 'net has nothing to do with this, and bringing it up only shows your lack of an argument.

Someone posted a private email address on Twitter. The owner of that email address filed a complaint, and the Twitter account was removed. Any other day, Twitter would be the Good Guy, but the Internet has a hard-on for hating NBC due to their Olympic coverage, so now all of the sudden it's cool?

Re:Twitter account suspension prompts user backlash by stfu on Tuesday July 31, 2012 @01:48PM (#4318646)
bringing it up only shows your lack of an argument

Can you please elaborate on this? Both are high level executives, who's contact information has been available on the web.

Twitter proactively contacted NBC. I bet Cook would also like to get informed by Twitter each time his email turns up and asked to give his approval if the account of the user should get terminated.

Re:Twitter account suspension prompts user backlash by ceol on Tuesday July 31, 2012 @01:56PM (#4318688)
> Both are high level executives, who's contact information has been available on the web.

Tim Cook has nothing to do with this instance, though. This executive didn't want his email address being passed around. Tim Cook might, he might not, who cares? Just because one person allows his info to be posted online doesn't mean everyone else has to deal with theirs getting out there.

Re:Twitter account suspension prompts user backlash by incision on Tuesday July 31, 2012 @11:57AM (#4317891)
Common sense says that published corporate email addresses don't qualify as private.

I wonder if Twitter will ban me for posting your "private" Hacker News username?

Re:Twitter account suspension prompts user backlash by zippie on Tuesday July 31, 2012 @12:23PM (#4318043)
Not to be flippant but where exactly is the e-mail publicly posted? I wasn't able to find it on NBC's site.

I also don't consider my HN username private because it is shown on a public forum (and I understand that it would have been).

Re:Twitter account suspension prompts user backlash by alayne on Tuesday July 31, 2012 @01:11PM (#4318394)
It was on this page at least http://www.fidei.org/2011/06/boycott-nbc-removed-under-god-f...

Amusingly, Gary's email address is all over the Internet now. Couldn't twitter have just removed the offending message and saved themselves the negative publicity?