Bloggers have no right to anonymity

In a landmark case, the High Court has ruled that anonymous bloggers (whatever those might be) cannot expect the right to anonymity since blogging is "essentially a public rather than a private activity."

Richard Horton, a blogger and serving police officer, was refused an anonymity order by Mr. Justice Eady after he sought an injunction to prevent The Times newspaper from revealing his identity.

Mr. Horton's blog - NightJack - has been awarded an Orwell Prize for political writing but included confidential details on police cases, including sexual abuse investigations. It also contained strong views on both politics and social matters and, according to the judge, criticised "a number of senior politicians" as well as offering advice to members of the public caught up in police operations that they should "complain about every officer . . . show no respect to the legal system or anybody working in it."

Anonymity has long served as a tool for those who wish to comment on political and social matters.

This is the first British case involving bloggers' rights to privacy, with the ruling stating that Mr. Horton had no "reasonable expectation" to anonymity even though he took steps to anonymise names and other details in his posts, some of which were visited by half a million readers per week. However, it is understood that his posts could be traced to specific cases.

NightJack has since been deleted, but Mr. Horton has been approached by several publishers wishing to produce a book based on the contents of the blog and - we hope - the inevitable controversy concerning this court case since it is debatable whether any case as exceptional as this one should serve as a landmark which will have influence on similar - but not identical - future cases.

Acid Rabbi understands that Mr. Horton should have taken greater steps to disguise details, making it impossible for his posts to be linked to particular police investigations. Meanwhile, although we have nothing like half a million readers per week, in view of paragraph three of this article we'd just like to declare our utmost respect for and deference to our Government, legal system and police force in much the same way that children sometimes declare the school bully to be their friend in the hope that doing so might prevent playground beatings.