Twitter has been hit by a storm of speculation as it appears that disgraced  pop star Gary Glitter has set up a personal account.

Already the number one trending topic in the UK, the account has sent nearly 200 tweets and gained over 6000 followers.

The account description states: ‘The official twitter of Gary Glitter. Managed and updated by me. King of rock & roll. 2012 comeback tour details coming here soon. Watch this space!’

The response has been overwhelming, with a mixture of outrage and mockery dominating the network.

Scottish comedian Frankie Boyle has already launched a foul-mouthed assault on Glitter’s account, writing: ‘@OfficialGlitter Hi Gary. Would you say it’s you or the captain of the Concordia that’s f****d more people in international waters?’

Glitter’s apparent  account has replied: ‘@frankieboyle I want to put everything behind me, time has passed, now I want to move on with my music. People like you don’t help me.‘

Frankie replied: ‘@officialglitter Ignore the haters. Rose West is getting a similarly hard time on Mumsnet.’

For those of you who don’t know what all the fuss is about “ In 1999, Glitter was convicted of possession of child pornography in the United Kingdom, and later convicted in Vietnam for committing obscene acts with minors.”  And that is what all the fuss is about. Should a convicted sex offender by on twitter? Is that putting our children at risk?

I think what this shows is that the laws at current just aren’t really sufficient, and it does open a bigger debate about the protection of children on the Internet verse the balance of the rights of criminals who have served their time. And to be honest I think there is no easy answer as every person will have a differing opinion.

For me personally I think this is an opportunity for us to talk to children about  sex offenders on the Internet  and what they think to that, and what they would do if they had “inappropriate contact” . And what concerns me more is all the sex offenders we don’t know about.

I would however be surprised if this account is real and I am sure it is a fake. I can’t imagine that Glitter is that stupid or maybe he really does want this kind of publicity. Journalist Caitlin Moran has suggested ‘wave a kid in front of him’ as a potential test of the profile’s validity. Really not  a helpful comment.

A debate I am sure will rage for a lone time yet. What are your thoughts?