Ruling on NightJack author Richard Horton kills blogger anonymity (UK)

TimesOnlineUK ^ | 6-16-09 | Frances Gibbs

[STARWISE]

Thousands of bloggers who operate behind the cloak of anonymity have no right to keep their identities secret, the High Court ruled today

In a landmark decision, Mr Justice Eady refused to grant an order to protect the anonymity of a police officer who is the author of a blog called NightJack.

The officer, Richard Horton, 45, a detective constable with Lancashire Constabulary, had sought an injunction to stop The Times from revealing his name.

*snip*

Mr Horton has now deleted his website and received a written warning from his force.

*snip*

Coming down in favour of freedom of expression, the judge also said that even if the blogger could have claimed he had a right to anonymity, the judge would have ruled against him on public interest grounds. In April Mr Horton was awarded the Orwell Prize for political writing, but the judges were not aware that he was revealing confidential details about cases, some involving sex offences against children, that could be traced back to genuine prosecutions.

[STARWISE]

God help us from Arlen Specter (and Overlordobama, Inc.) applying their wacky expansive views of the privacy laws here.

[a fool in paradise]

The officer, Richard Horton, 45, a detective constable with Lancashire Constabulary, had sought an injunction to stop The Times from revealing his name.

So newspapers don't have to reveal their sources but they can out people at will. They only stand up for crooked liberals, shadow government figures who disclose the names of CIA employees, etc.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

The press only believes in freedom of speech for itself.

[hoosierham]

It is simple:

You have The Right to No Privacy (unless you are one of the socialist oppressors).

[BGHater]

It will happen here as well.

Blogger jailed in Anna Nicole Smith defamation suit

[STARWISE]

Omy .. I didn’t know that .. it’s here.

[sinsofsolarempirefan]

Well, that’s the last time I read the Times. I’m a Telegraph man from now on...

[muawiyah]

Thank goodness I have never had to hide my identity.

[PressurePoint]

I wonder if the judge had to read the Federalist or Anti-Federalist Papers in law school. Seems like the judge would have noticed that most of them were written under pseudonyms.

I mean, seriously, if the guy who wrote the First Amendment defended it under as pseudonym, doesn't it just seem like common sense that the Amendment would guarantee that right to others?

[PressurePoint]

Sorry, I didn’t even notice this was an English case. For some reason I thought it was Arizona. No idea why. I think I’m sleepy.