Twitter 'spams' UK software developer

Another day, another Twitter story and this time it's a bit more than yet another celebrity prattling on about lots of nothing much.

According to the Guardian, a UK software developer is currently the unhappy recipient of what he calls a mass spamming by Twitter itself.

Defunct project

The problem is that Steve Crawford just happens to own the domain twitter.co.uk - something he set up for an unrelated project in 2005, long before Twitter ever appeared.

Currently, the .co.uk URL gets about 3,000 visitors a day, which suggests Crawford's complaints aren't exaggerated by any means. Of those visitors, some seemingly go on to the .com site and register as new users with @twitter.co.uk email addresses, possibly because it's fresh in their minds.

Mails flood in

As Twitter doesn't verify new account emails, Crawford ends up getting emails meant for the erroneous would-be Tweetists. While some of the incorrect signups may be due to spambots, most seem like real human error, he says.

After the recent huge growth in Twitter numbers, Crawford has seen his unwanted mail count go up to, yet the US firm refuses to answer his emails pleading for an end to the problem.

Twitter at fault

He says: "As I understand it, they are breaking both UK and US anti-spam laws. I have contacted Twitter.com to try to resolve the problem but they have not responded to any of my emails. Let's be clear - I am blaming Twitter.com for allowing this to happen, not the individuals who have mistakenly typed in the wrong email address."

For the time being, Crawford is using the accidental traffic to sell advertising space for charity, but he says he'd still like to get the problem sorted out. Maybe he should Tweet about it?