Mark Lewis & Anna Brooks-Gallerani discuss freedom of speech & the privacy of individuals
In two recent speeches, Lord Neuberger (the President of the Supreme Court) remarked that “astonishing developments in IT”—the speed of global communications and the ease with which words can be secretly recorded and doctored—may make it inevitable that the law on privacy and communications may have to be reconsidered.
With three billion internet users worldwide, Lord Neuberger noted that the internet presents both unprecedented opportunities for free speech but also unprecedented opportunities for encroachment on individuals’ Art 8 right to private and family life.
He queried whether anonymous speech on the internet is even capable of protection in the internet age. This view flowed from Author of a Blog v Times Newspapers Limited [2009] EWHC 1358 (QB), [2009] All ER (D) 155 (Jun) which established that blogging could not be protected under UK privacy law because it is an essentially public rather than a private activity. Lord Neuberger noted that this decision could be applied in future judgments in relation to posts on social networks such as Flickr and
