What next for privacy?

25 May 11 | Uncategorized

Remember how the great press barons turned nations against each other and then pocketed tidy profits, not only from newspaper sales but also from arms deals on the side? Compare the behaviour of old and new media giants like News International and Twitter over the last few days. They have propagated the idea that free speech and privacy are at war with each other. The media’s coverage of privacy injunctions has developed this shaky idea into the status of a truth universally acknowledged. (more…)

The lives of others

23 May 11 | Uncategorized

The weekend brought a whole new level of absurdity to the current controversy over injunctions. Scotland’s Sunday Herald published the identity of the anonymous footballer (I won’t name him, but we all know who I’m talking about) alleged to have had an affair with former Miss Wales Imogen Thomas (I can name her, though many claim not to have heard of her before she was injuncted by the footballer everyone has heard of but cannot name). (more…)