There will soon be no hiding place for bloggers warn Graham Huntley & Charlie Clarke-Jervoise
Views differ widely as to the social utility of the medium of the blog, but it seems only a matter of time before the open door of anonymity will be seen as a vice without much stronger and reliable standards of press restraint—failing which another aspect of press activity may become capable of being reined in only by the few who can afford the burdens involved in legal recourse.
As HHJ Parkes recently noted in suitably measured judicial tone: “One of the less uplifting aspects of internet usage is that those who make unpleasant or offensive observations about others tend to lack the courage to speak out under their own names, but prefer instead to hide behind false noms de guerre, without disclosure of their true identities.”
Patel v Unite
The judge’s comments relate to a case in which a BA pilot, Manish Patel, had been trying to identify anonymous bloggers who had vilified him after he and other pilots had taken steps to replace striking
