ATTEMPTS TO identify a famous soccer player hiding behind a privacy injunction have spiralled into an online battle over freedom of speech as internet users responded to a High Court action by repeatedly naming him on Twitter.
The high court in London granted a search order against the US-based microblogging site yesterday as the lord chief justice of England and Wales, Lord Judge, warned that “modern technology was totally out of control” and called for those who “peddle lies” on the internet to be fined.
The attempt to compel Twitter to identify those behind the breaches comes after a number of its users this month purported to reveal the name of the player who allegedly had an affair with British model Imogen Thomas.
The footballer’s legal team began its action in London on Wednesday. There is a suspicion that a media company may be linked to the postings on Twitter, put up nearly two weeks ago.
But last night the name of the footballer was spreading even more rapidly across Twitter in defiance of the court injunction, setting the stage for a confrontation between the judiciary and cyberspace. Earlier, Lord Judge – welcoming a juridical report on superinjunctions – said readers placed greater trust in the content of traditional media than those “who peddle lies” on websites.
He urged that ways be found to curtail the “misuse of modern technology”, in the same way users of online child pornography were pursued by the police.
“Are you really going to say that someone who has a true claim for protection perfectly well made has to be at the mercy of modern technology?” he asked.
The lawsuit lists the defendants as “Twitter Inc and persons unknown”. The latter are described as those “responsible for the publication of information on the Twitter accounts”.
Lawyers have applied for a court order that could force Twitter to hand over the name, e-mail address and IP address of the person behind the account. The orders are commonly used in illegal filesharing cases.
The claim form, filed to the high court by the footballer’s legal team, will not be made public until next week. Earlier this month, an unknown person or individuals published on a Twitter account the names of various people who had allegedly taken out gagging orders to conceal sexual indiscretions.
The account rapidly attracted more than 100,000 followers.
Last night, Twitter said: “We are unable to comment.”
The London-based law firm representing the footballer did not respond to a request for comment at time of publication.
Twitter and other social networks were accused of making “an ass of the law” by UK culture secretary Jeremy Hunt after a number of celebrities with injunctions were allegedly exposed online.
Twitter has in the past said it “strive[s] not to remove tweets on the basis of their content”, but that it would remove “illegal tweets and spam”.
Previous defamation claims against Google failed on grounds it is not a publisher and not responsible for contents of blogs and articles listed in its search results.
Richard Hillgrove of Hillgrove PR, which advises celebrities, said Twitter needed to be made as accountable as any other medium. "It has gone from the back bedroom to mainstream medium," he said. – ( Guardianservice)