Twitter may be planning to sue TechCrunch over the publication of stolen internal documents (Twittergate), according to multiple sites.
The conjecture is simply that at this stage, with Twitter not exactly saying that they’d like Michael Arrington’s rear end on toast, however the company has made hints in that direction.
“We are in touch with our legal counsel about what this theft means for Twitter…and anyone who accepts and subsequently shares or publishes these stolen documents” co-founder Biz Stone wrote on the Twitter blog. “We’re not sure yet exactly what the implications are for folks who choose to get involved at this point but when we learn more and are able to share more, we will.”
TechCrunch is now claiming that they published the documents with the permission of Twitter…which is more than a little bit bizarre given what Biz wrote and unlikely: no company in their right mind would approve of another site publishing stolen documents that detail highly confidential internet business plans and corporate information.