City of London confiscates @towerbridge account, kills playful bot

Tom Armitage made a little twitterbot that posted updates on the status of London's Tower Bridge under the @towerbridge. It was a playful bit of civic engagement from a proud Londoner. London's municipal government thanked him by having Twitter summarily confiscate the @towerbridge ID and give it to them. As Warren Ellis notes, "Cognitive cities require the approval and collaboration of city authorities. The same people who make flyposting illegal… It's sad, and somewhat annoying – especially for Tom – but a better example that these streets are not our streets won't be found in Britain today."

I'm about to get in contact with Twitter the second I've posted this. I'm more than a little furious; after all, all the URLs that link to it are now incorrect, all the lifts, all the (puppet-mastered) banter is gone. Cool URLs don't change, and these have just gone. And in their place: marketing.

I've never pretended to be an official account; I've never dissimulated; no-one from the exhibition has ever got in touch with me about the bot.

So, for the time being: this is why the bot has disappeared. I'm very, very cross, and perhaps a little upset; the robots are our friends, after all.

Where's @towerbridge?