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to tell us if this is significant or not?

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Wed Jun 17th, 2009 at 05:10:54 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Hard to tell? The question was whether he had a right to stop the Times writing what they knew. Would the answer have been different if the legal action was to force the ISP or a blogging partner to reveal who he was?

An injunction against publication is a pretty serious matter, so I'm not surprised it wasn't upheld here.

by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Wed Jun 17th, 2009 at 05:21:19 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Can a columnist writing for a newspaper under a pseudonym sue a competing newspaper for reveling their identity?

If so, why the double standard?

If not, what's the big deal?

(I am not a lawyer, etc)

The brainless should not be in banking. — Willem Buiter

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Jun 17th, 2009 at 05:21:53 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Writers usually use pseudonyms because they're constrained by contract not to work for the competition. Pretending to be someone else is a way around that.

I've been told that I shouldn't work for a competing magazine even though I'm not a full time employee, have no benefits of any kind, and I'm certainly not being paid a retainer. Being pseudonymous solves that problem.

Anonymity isn't the same as writing pseudonymously. The point here is that the writer was posting anonymously - the pseudonym was just a cover.

Potentially he was posting anonymously in the public interest as a whistleblower, which is one angle that could have been made more of.

If people are forced to give up anonymity online, blogging gets much less interesting. And much less useful.

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Wed Jun 17th, 2009 at 05:50:17 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Isn't this about whether the law protects your anonymity after it's already been compromised?
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Wed Jun 17th, 2009 at 05:57:18 AM EST
[ Parent ]
No, it's about - or should have been about - whether there's a reasonable expectation that opinions and experiences should always be traced to an identifiable author.

There's a series of anonymously-written books in the UK about a woman who works as a call girl. If that person was named, it would very likely damage the earning potential of those books.

Why should a journalist have the right to destroy someone's livelihood for the sake of a story?

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Wed Jun 17th, 2009 at 06:22:10 AM EST
[ Parent ]

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