Yesterday in the High Court a police officer, whose anonymous blog, Night Jack, recently won the Orwell prize for political writing, lost his attempt to maintain his anonymity.
The officer had argued that what he wrote on his blog was in the public interest with its critique of police activity, and continued anonymity was necessary for this type of blogging. However, the Judge said that blogging is “essentially a public rather than a private activity” and so confidentiality of his identity was not protected.
The officer had brought the action to stop The Times from publishing his name after an investigative journalist had found out who he was.
This is an important decision concerning privacy rights on the internet – so, before you slag off the boss on your anonymous blog at the weekend, make sure that it cannot be traced back to you!
About Giles
Giles is the founder and managing director of ContractStore. It was his idea to set up a company selling documents online and he has played a major part in the company's development.
He is an English solicitor, with over thirty years' experience of drafting and negotiating commercial and construction contracts in the UK and overseas. He has long been convinced that there is a quicker and simpler approach to the delivery and supply of most contracts, and he is an active proponent of the use of plain English in legal documents. He specialises in the drafting of construction and engineering contracts and as well as contributing contracts to the ContractStore website, he is co-author of the JCT Constructing Excellence Contract publiushed in 2007 (and its predecessor, the Be Collaborative Contract, which is available online from ContractStore).
