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Superinjunctions, twitter and the press


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Don't know how this is playing outside of the UK, but there's a massive story about superinjunctions - basically gagging orders that peoplenwith the cash to do so can get to prevent details of scandal coming out. Problem is, people are posting stuff on t'inta and twitter and the like, leaving the internet awash withnthegoss but the papers and legit media only able to write silly vague stuff. The footie legend in this latest one is apparently suing twitter, which isnonly creating more of a backlash.

 

Lots of interesting issues here though.

 

Quote:

A Premier League footballer who tried to gag Twitter from disclosing details of his adulterous private life saw his attempt backfire yesterday.

Millions of speculative comments were posted on the site, and a guest on a BBC radio programme appeared to accidentally identify the footballer who has already won a gagging order.

The married sportsman had won a superinjunction to stop Imogen Thomas, a former Big Brother contestant, and The Sun newspaper from publishing details of his affair.

The footballer then obtained a High Court order asking Twitter to reveal details of users who had allegedly used the site to breach the superinjunction.

Twitter users reacted furiously to the legal action — the first taken against the microblogging website — with millions of comments. It prompted an avalanche of online publicity and speculation about the sportsman’s identity.

Today, BBC Radio 4’s flagship current affairs programme, seemed accidentally to identify the footballer when a guest blurted out his first name during an interview.

While the BBC sought to play down the affair, the comments were picked up and broadcast all over the internet — including tweets by at least two of the corporation’s own journalists.

Dominic Grieve, the Attorney-General, said he would review comments made about the player on Today.

Yesterday several BBC journalists appeared to mention a sportsman’s name on Twitter, and publishers in America identified him.

The player is taking action against the social networking site and the “persons unknown†who purportedly revealed his name last month after it emerged that he had obtained the court order.

Legal experts say the legal action against Twitter appeared doomed to failure because the High Court in London has no jurisdiction in California, where the site is based. Twitter has not commented about the action.

American newspapers have also published the footballer’s name.

The original order, in which the player is referred to only as CTB, blocked the publication by The Sun — which is a subsidiary of News International, parent company of The Times — of an alleged “sexual relationship†with Ms Thomas.

Schillings, the law firm representing CTB, said: “An application has been made to obtain limited information concerning the unlawful use of Twitter by a small number of individuals who may have breached a court order.â€

The “persons unknown†are described in the documents lodged at the High Court in London as those “responsible for the publication of information on the Twitter accountsâ€.

Mark Stephens, a media lawyer, said the BBC incident suggested the dam was finally about to burst over injunctions.

While the player could potentially sue the “persons unknownâ€, he was unlikely to be able to take the same action against Twitter because the company does not fall within British jurisdiction, he said.

Mr Stephens said: “If you want to sue Twitter, you have to go to San Francisco. Any attempt to enforce English privacy or libel law will not be accepted in the USA.â€

Max Clifford, the PR expert, said: “Superinjunctions and injunctions are purely a law for the rich, and purely there to protect the rich. What you need is some halfway house between the invading of people’s privacy and freedom of the press and information, both of which are vital in a democracy.â€

The row over superinjunctions is also generating tensions between judges and Parliament. A High Court judge last week relaxed an injunction relating to Sir Fred Goodwin, the former boss of Royal Bank of Scotland, after a peer appeared to break the order by revealing details of Mr Goodwin’s alleged sexual relationship with a senior colleague.

Mr Goodwin’s attempt to conceal the alleged affair is seen by many MPs and peers as an example of how the courts have gone too far in granting superinjunctions.

Further clashes between Parliament and judges may erupt this week if a Liberal Democrat breaks another secrecy injunction in the Commons. John Hemming, MP for Birmingham Yardley, said: “I intend revealing more details of an injunction, but the injunction relates to poison water, not footballers’ affairs.â€

Lord Judge, the Lord Chief Justice, last week castigated parliamentarians for revealing banned information

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He's made it ever so much more bad than it was.

I'm sure with hindsight he's just wishing he had admitted he had shagged someone, publically apologised to his family and be all contrite etc.

Now he's just tarnishing his Legend status. Just a bit. Silly boy.

Still a legend.

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It's all getting very silly isn't it.

 

Here's the latest silliness I just read:

 

Quote:
The case of the footballer and the model has thrown up the bizarre and sinister prospect of a famous person being secretly sent to prison for breaking a privacy injunction.

The unprecedented scenario emerged yesterday when it was revealed that a television personality faces a possible jail sentence for repeating the footballer’s name in a series of Twitter entries and making jokes at his expense.

If the media figure is named in any trial for contempt of court then the footballer’s injunction will be effectively broken. So if judges are to keep to the terms of the injunction the trial is meant to protect, he cannot be named.

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Did he expect a woman off Big Brother (i.e., Attention Seeker of the Year) with an online sex tape to be discrete?

 

What a plank!!! lol

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AhHa.

 

Married footballer gets his legover!

 

According the the Torygraph, the DirtyRottenBounder is no less than Ryan Giggs. I'm shocked. Probably the most important news since the start of WWII, if not worse.

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Originally Posted By: grungy-gonads
lol

Apparently this Imogen tarts list includes Danny Simpson, Ronaldo, Defoe as well as Giggsy.


She's a tart he's a legend confused
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rolleyes wakaranai

 

He's a silly boy for doing this.

 

But he's a legend because of this:

 

Giggs: Major Honours

12 League titles

4 Fa cups

4 League cups

2 CLs

1 Super Cup

1 Intercontinental cup

1 CWC

Total: 25 (not counting Charity Shields)

 

-

 

You knew that anyway, so stop being a dick.

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Giggs is a rare football player indeed. Many people, even those who have no time for football and even even those fans of other teams, have admired him for how he has conducted himself for the past 20 years or so. His success in the game is (almost?) unparallelled and his loyalty to his team unheard of in the modern game.

 

I don't care what people get up to, it is a shame that this silly adventure will taint his image.

 

Anyway this superinjunction thing isn't just about football players....

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