Twitter ends link with JustSpotted.com after ‘stalker’ warnings
A Twitter has ended its
relationship with JustSpotted.com after criticism the site will help people to
stalk celebrities. The website, which is due to launch next week, is designed
to track the movements of stars
using updates from social networking sites. Postings from celebs’ Twitter accounts and sightings by fans will be used to put together a map showing where
the stars are. It had been developed in co-operation
with Twitter and other social networking websites to collate news of 7,000
celebrities who advertise their activities through the internet.
B Privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch reacted angrily to news of
JustSpotted.com’s imminent launch
and spokesman Daniel Hamilton said: “Aside from being hugely intrusive, it is a gift to stalkers and
people regarded as being very strange or eccentric who could misuse it to
harass celebrities.” PR expert Richard Hillgrove told the Independent he feared
what could happen to people featured on the site if there are negative stories
about them in the press.
C “This site can be used to
facilitate a witch-hunt. You could create vigilantism, that’s a very dangerous aspect of it,” he warned. Their
concerns were echoed by lawyers and Twitter has now decided to withdraw its
support. Lawyer Rod Dadak said the site might break anti-stalking laws. “I don’t
think this site will survive,” he said. “It could be seen as inciting people to
pay celebrities a visit. It could amount to a criminal offence, and it is
certainly invading privacy.”
D Matt Graves, a spokesman for the microblogging service, said: “This is
not the product we licensed, and we have terminated
their agreement.” Twitter had previously agreed to provide postings of
celebrities to the team behind JustSpotted.com, but the new service was being
marketed as a search engine project when the deal was negotiated.
E JustSpotted.com will go ahead as scheduled, using other applications to sift
data from Twitter accounts. Its backers
insist it cannot be used to stalk celebrities, as the real-time nature of the website means people will
not be able to react quickly enough to sightings.
backer – příznivec
imminent launch – blízké
spuštění
intrusive – dotěrný
nature – povaha
posting – aktualizování,
příspěvek
sighting – pozorování
to facilitate – napomáhat,
usnadnit
to sift – prošetřit
to terminate – ukončit
track – stopovat
vigilantism – bdělost
1) Read the article and
match each of the headings to a paragraph.
1 Twitter has decided to stop
its support
2 JustSpotted.com could be misuse
it to harass celebrities
3 JustSpotted.com will go
ahead
4 Matt Graves’
reaction
5 Introduction
2) Read the article again and answer the questions.
1 What is the article about?
2 What is JustSpotted.com?
What does it do?
3 What is Twitter? What do its
representatives say?
4 What does lawyer Rod
Dadak think?
5 What is your opinion
about JustSpotted.com?
3) Explain the following words.
1 stalker
2 criminal offence
3 to invade privacy
4 Twitter accounts
5 to stalk celebrities
What are social networks?
How can they be misused? What information shouldn’t we publish there? What
crimes are connected with using social networks?
Adjusted to:
Read more:
http://www.metro.co.uk/news/844196-twitter-ends-link-with-justspotted-com-after-stalker-warnings
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