Twitter users and the courts go to war over footballer's injunction

Owen Bowcott and Josh Halliday, guardian.co.uk, Friday 20 May 2011 20.26 BST

• Article history

As Twitter users repeatedly named a footballer who has taken out a privacy injunction, Lord Judge warned that 'modern technology was totally out of control'. Photograph: Ian Nicholson/PA



Attempts to identify a famous footballer hiding behind a privacy injunction have spiralled into an online battle over freedom of speech, as internet users responded to high court action by repeatedly naming him on Twitter. The high court granted a search order against the US-based microblogging site on Friday as the lord chief justice, Lord Judge, warned that "modern technology was totally out of control" and called for those who "peddle lies" on the internet to be fined. The attempt to compel Twitter to identify those responsible for the breaches comes after a number of its users earlier this month purported to reveal the name of the player who allegedly had an affair with the model Imogen Thomas.

The footballer's legal team began its action in London on Wednesday. There is a suspicion that a media company may be linked to the postings on Twitter, which were put up nearly two weeks ago. But the name of the footballer was spreading even more rapidly across Twitter in defiance of the court injunction, setting the stage for a confrontation between the judiciary and cyberspace. Earlier Lord Judge – welcoming a juridical report on superinjunctions – said readers placed greater trust in the content of traditional media than those "who peddle lies" on websites. He urged that ways be found to curtail the "misuse of modern technology", in the same way that those involved with online child pornography were pursued by the police. "Are you really going to say that someone who has a true claim for protection perfectly well made has to be at the mercy of modern technology?" he asked. The lawsuit lists the defendants as "Twitter Inc and persons unknown". The "persons unknown" are described as those "responsible for the publication of information on the Twitter accounts".

Lawyers have applied for a court order that could force Twitter to hand over the name, email address and IP address of the person behind the account, the Guardian understands. The orders – known as a Norwich Pharmacal orders – are commonly used in illegal filesharing cases. The Guardian understands that the claim form, filed to the high court by the footballer's legal team, will not be made public until next week. Earlier this month, an unknown person or individuals published on a Twitter account the names of various people who had allegedly taken out gagging orders to conceal sexual indiscretions. The account rapidly attracted more than 100,000 followers.

Twitter said: "We are unable to comment." The London-based law firm representing the footballer had also not responded to a request for comment at time of publication. Twitter and other social networks were accused of making "an ass of the law" by the culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, and politicians after a number of celebrities with injunctions were allegedly exposed online. The socialite Jemima Khan was among those alleged on Twitter to have obtained an injunction. Khan described as a "bloody nightmare" rumours suggesting falsely that she had obtained a gagging order to prevent publication of "intimate photos" of herself and the TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson.

Twitter has in the past said that it "strive[s] not to remove tweets on the basis of their content", but that it would remove "illegal tweets and spam". Previous defamation claims against the search engine Google failed on the grounds that it is not a publisher and not responsible for the contents of the blogs and articles listed in its search results. Richard Hillgrove, the owner of Hillgrove PR, which provides advice to celebrities, said that Twitter needed to be made as accountable as any other medium. "It has gone from 'the back bedroom' to mainstream medium. "Celebrities are being held to account if they Tweet commercial interests. It works both ways," he said.

Twitter faces legal action by footballer over privacy

Josh Halliday, guardian.co.uk, Friday 20 May 2011 19.00 BST

Article history

Twitter has been sued by a footballer in a privacy row. Photograph: Chris Batson/Alamy



Website faces action after users purported to reveal name of player who allegedly had affair with model Imogen Thomas

A footballer has launched legal action against Twitter after a number of the microblogging site's users purported to reveal the name of the player who allegedly had an affair with model Imogen Thomas. The footballer's legal team began the legal action at the high court in London on Wednesday, in what is thought to be the first action against the US social media firm and its users. The lawsuit lists the defendants as "Twitter Inc and persons unknown". The latter are described as those "responsible for the publication of information on the Twitter accounts" in the court document, according to reports.

Earlier this month, an unknown person or individuals published the names of various people who had allegedly taken out gagging orders to conceal sexual indiscretions on a Twitter account. The account rapidly attracted more than 100,000 followers. Twitter declined to comment. The lord chief justice, Lord Judge, on Friday said Twitter and its users were totally out of control when it comes to privacy injunctions and court orders. Although there was no mention of Twitter in Lord Neuberger's long-awaited report on superinjunctions, published on Friday, Lord Judge said readers placed greater trust in the contents of traditional media than in those "who peddle lies" on websites.

Twitter and other social networks were accused of making "an ass of the law" by culture secretary Jeremy Hunt and politicians after a number of celebrities with injunctions were allegedly exposed online. The socialite Jemima Khan was among those claimed on Twitter to have obtained an injunction. Khan described rumours, which had suggested falsely she had obtained a gagging order to prevent publication of "intimate photos" of herself and Jeremy Clarkson, as a "bloody nightmare". Twitter has said that it "strive[s] not to remove tweets on the basis of their content", but that it would remove "illegal tweets and spam".

Mark Stephens, a senior media lawyer at Finers Stephens Innocent, said the lawsuit had little hope of succeeding. "This is not only scraping the bottom of the barrel, this is beneath the barrel. This [injunction] information is already available on servers outside of this jurisdiction and on website outside this jurisdiction," he said. "You would have to be a moron in a hurry to suggest to this footballer that he throw good money and publicly excoriate himself yet further." Schillings, the London-based law firm representing the footballer, had not returned a request for comment at time of publication.

Superinjunctions: Modern technology out of control, says lord chief justice

Owen Bowcott, legal affairs correspondent, guardian.co.uk, Friday 20 May 2011 13.39 BST




Lord Judge said he believed that ways would be found to curtail the 'misuse of modern technology'.
Photograph: Jonathan Hordle/Rex Features


Lord Judge: People who defy legal restrictions and 'peddle lies' over the internet should have to pay damages

Modern technology is totally out of control, the lord chief justice has warned in a call for action to be taken against those who defy court injunctions and "peddle lies" on social media and websites. Lord Judge welcomed a report by an influential judicial committee on privacy orders that called for superinjunctions to be granted only in "very limited circumstances" and normally for short periods of time. But he admitted that many bloggers and sites such as Twitter were publishing information that traditional newspapers and television stations were prevented from revealing by court orders.

There is no mention in the report of the impact of Twitter or the internet on the enforcement of court orders, but the lord chief justice said readers placed greater trust in the contents of traditional media than in those "who peddle lies" on websites. The internet had "by no means the same degree of intrusion into privacy as the story being emblazoned on the front pages of newspapers", which "people trust more", he said. The names of those people who had taken out anonymity orders have been circulating, sometimes inaccurately, on Twitter. "Anybody can put anything on [such sites]," he said.

Lord Judge said he believed that ways would be found to curtail the "misuse of modern technology" in the same way that those involved with online child pornography were pursued by the police. "Are you really going to say that someone who has a true claim for protection perfectly well made has to be at the mercy of modern technology?" he asked. "I'm not giving up on the possibility that people who peddle lies about others through using technology may one day be brought under control, maybe through damages, very substantial damages, maybe even injunctions to stop them peddling lies."

In a report that repeatedly stresses the importance of "open justice", the study headed by the master of the rolls, Lord Neuberger, proposes giving the media advance notice of applications for gagging orders. Dismissing allegations that judges have been creating new laws beyond the authority of parliament, the committee on superinjunctions nonetheless states that "there was justifiable concern [last year] ... that superinjunctions were being applied for, and granted, far too readily". The report also says that media reports of comments made in parliament which set out to contravene injunctions may be in contempt of court. Reports of statements in the Commons and Lords are protected by parliamentary privilege only if they are published "in good faith and without malice".

Addressing the media at the royal courts of justice in central London, the lord chief justice: "It is, of course, wonderful for you if a member of parliament stands up in parliament and says something which in effect means an order of the court on anonymity is breached. "But you do need to think whether it's a good idea for our lawmakers to be flouting a court order just because they disagree with a court order or they disagree with the privacy law created by parliament." On Thursday the Liberal Democrat Lord Stoneham of Droxford asked a question in the Lords revealing details of an injunction obtained by the former Royal Bank of Scotland boss Sir Fred Goodwin preventing coverage of details of his private life – which later led to the order being part-lifted.

Lord Judge said senior judges would be holding talks with the speakers of the Commons and the Lords over the issue. "It will take quite an effort for parliament to get a grip on this," he said. The study will be scrutinised carefully by ministers, who have sent out mixed signals about whether they believe a privacy law needs to be introduced to provide clearer guidance for judges. David Cameron's official spokesman said the government would consider Lord Neuberger's report before deciding whether to legislate on privacy issues. The spokesman told reporters at a regular daily briefing: "We think it is important to find the right balance between individual rights of privacy on the one hand and the right to freedom of expression on the other. We think this is a very useful report and it is something we will be considering very carefully."

While no one knows the precise number of privacy injunctions in circulation, the committee says it is only aware of two genuine superinjunctions – those whose existence cannot even be revealed – having been granted since January 2010. One was set aside on appeal and the other was in force for only seven days. "The principle of open justice is a fundamental constitutional principle," the report states, "although it is not an absolute principle. It applies to interim injunction applications as it does to trials. "... As they incorporate derogations from the principle of open justice, superinjunctions and anonymised injunctions can only be granted when they are strictly necessary. They cannot be granted so as to become in practice permanent."

The report sets out draft guidance on how applications should be processed in future, allowing third parties, including the media, to take part in, or lodge objections to, privacy proceedings. It is hoped the presence of other parties in such complex cases will provide reassurance that the cause of justice is being served and that the law is not being exploited by the wealthy to close down debate about matters of public interest. It is acknowledged that new legal procedures will be required to ensure that those who attend such hearings do not divulge details until they are reportable. "It will be a very rare case where advance notice of such applications to media organisations, which are likely to be affected by any order, can justifiably be withheld."

Lord Neuberger, who is the head of the civil judiciary, said: "Our starting point was the maintenance of the fundamental principles of open justice and freedom of speech. Where privacy and confidentiality are involved, a degree of secrecy is often necessary to do justice. "However, where secrecy is ordered it should only be to the extent strictly necessary to achieve the interests of justice. And where it is ordered, the facts of the case and the reason for the secrecy should be explained, as far as possible, in an openly available judgment." In a clear rebuff to politicians who have accused judges of inventing novel legal precedents without reference to parliament, Lord Judge welcomed the report and observed: "Contrary to some commentary, unelected judges in this country did not create privacy rights. They were created by parliament [through enactment of the 1998 Human Rights Act].

"Now that they have been created, judges cannot ignore or dispense with them: they must apply the law relating to privacy matters as created by parliament – including those relating to the enforcement of privacy rights by injunctive relief, balancing them with the rights ... of freedom of expression. "The relationship between parliament and the courts has, for generations, been predicated on mutual understanding and respect. Judges have never asserted, and they are not now asserting, any authority or jurisdiction over parliamentary proceedings or debate, which are exclusively matters for parliament."

How To Look Punk: a marketing/trendspotter's "zine" from 1977

by David Pescovitz at 10:21 AM Thursday, May 19, 2011

From 1977, this "'zine" about "How To Look Punk" written by Marliz, who according to the "note on author" is "internationally known in the industry for her marketing ability in current-trend perception and 'how to' help it explode on the scene.'" This is quite an artifact.
Punk Rock, The New Wave of Sound & Style: "How To Look Punk" (PDF, via threadbared, thanks Koshi!)

Cyber law risks making the 'ordinary' criminal: expert

by Asher Moses May 18, 2011

The moment a journalist was arrested

Fairfax journalist Ben Grubb recorded this audio as Queensland Police arrested him after writing a story about a Facebook security breach.

Further links:

The moment a journalist was arrested

Nobody's immune: Facebook-arrest policeman

Nobody's immune: police officer on Facebook arrest

Grubb's story: the strong arm of the law

Full transcript of Ben Grubb's police interview

Police say receiving photos like taking stolen TVs

A senior lecturer in Internet law says the arrest of a Fairfax journalist over his receipt of an unauthorised Facebook photo "defies sensible explanation" and the entire matter exposes serious failings in Australian cyber crime laws. Peter Black, senior lecturer at the Queensland University of Technology, said Australian laws on cyber crime were so broad that they criminalised much "ordinary activity". He said it was very unusual for police to spring into action over an alleged theft of digital photos.

Fairfax deputy technology editor Ben Grubb was arrested by Queensland Police yesterday and threatened with charges relating to the receipt of "tainted material". The material pertained to a story Grubb published yesterday revealing that a security researcher managed to bypass Facebook's privacy settings to access someone's private photos. At a press conference this morning, the head of the Queensland police fraud squad, Brian Hay, admitted that police were "still cutting our teeth" in the rapidly evolving online environment. However, he equated receiving an unauthorised photograph from someone's Facebook account with receiving a stolen TV.

Online users lobby group Electronic Frontiers Australia has taken particular issue with this statement, saying comparing a digital photo to a stolen TV was unhelpful. Mr Black said security researcher Christian Heinrich, who obtained the Facebook photos, potentially breached section 477 of the Commonwealth Cyber Crime Act. "It is possible based upon a reading of [the Act] that the original action to access that private Facebook page may actually constitute a criminal offence because it does provide that a serious offence is one where a person has gained unauthorised access," he said. "The phrase 'unauthorised access' may include the activity that was done in this instance even though there was no hacking in the traditional sense."

Despite investigating this matter, Queensland police confirmed that it had not referred it to the Australian Federal Police for investigation. An AFP spokeswoman said that, despite the Cyber Crime Act being a Commonwealth law, state police would still be able to charge Heinrich without AFP involvement. Mr Black said the Cyber Crime Act was at odds with Facebook's terms of service, which says there are no guarantees private photos will not be accessed. He said when users upload photos to Facebook they were granting the company a "non-exclusive licence" to use the photo but Facebook did not obtain ownership of it.

The way the Cyber Crime Act was drafted was so broad that a whole range of "more or less ordinary activity" could attract criminal charges, Mr Black said. "This is a common criticism of the Cyber Crime Act, that it has been drafted too broadly ... basically it could encompass any activity whereby someone gains access to someone else's website or social networking platform even in the absence of what anybody would consider to be hacking," he said. "They might guess a password, they might obtain it by accident ... all of these things could be nonetheless considered a criminal offence with a penalty of up to 10 years." Mr Black said that Grubb, by receiving one of the photos taken by Heinrich, potentially breached Queensland state laws regarding receiving "tainted property". He said the speedy and heavy response of police in targeting Grubb was "totally inconsistent" with how police would usually respond to this sort of matter and it "just defies sensible explanation".

"[Typically] if someone called up the police saying someone has accessed my Facebook page and taken my photos, they wouldn't get very far," Mr Black said. Colin Jacobs, chairman of Electronic Frontiers Australia, said police should give security professionals exposing flaws in services such as Facebook “a little leeway” and that went double for a journalist covering the story. Mr Jacobs said police comparing a digital photo to a stolen TV was unhelpful. "It's obvious that physical theft is a completely different beast to the movement of information online. Nobody can email you a stolen television without your foreknowledge," Mr Jacobs said. "It reminds me of how we are constantly told downloading a pirated movie is theft. It's not, but comparing it to a physical theft will compromise our ability to think clearly about the issue and the new challenges these events place on our traditional methods of dealing with them."

Mr Jacobs also criticised Queensland Police for spreading "misinformation" on Twitter when it initially denied that Grubb was arrested. After Grubb had tweeted about his arrest, the media unit tweeted that he had not been officially arrested, but it was forced to retract that statement this morning. "Our bad @bengrubb was arrested for questioning briefly. Our tweet last night was based on information provided at the time Apologies," it said this morning. "Oops, 'our bad' isn't a good enough response. If the police are going to be responding to real-time events on Twitter they'd better make sure they aren't misleading the public by doing so," Mr Jacobs said. Grubb's iPad is still in police custody and there has been no word on when it will be returned. "Unless the police are sure there's a very good case to answer we hope Ben gets his gear back as soon as possible," Mr Jacobs said.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/cyber-law-risks-making-the-ordinary-criminal-expert-20110518-1esm7.html#ixzz1MjjWiCW1

Every TIME magazine post (so far)

Kids, Surveillance, and the Damned Internet

from Sociological Images by Lisa Wade

Cory Doctorow, has a great Ted Talk in which he gives an inspired and radical solution to the lack of privacy on the internet. To begin, he notes that Facebook, as just one example, doesn’t just allow, but incites disclosure by rewarding it, but only intermittently (a la B.F. Skinner and the Skinner box).

Meanwhile, parents try to protect children from disclosure and exposure with surveillance tools that block and report content. This, Doctorow argues provocatively, only trains kids to accept surveillance as normal and unproblematic. Instead of spying on our kids, he suggests, we should be teaching them to manipulate and avert involuntary disclosure, such that they grow up learning to question instead of accept the use and abuse of their personal information.

(View original at http://thesocietypages.org/socimages)

11 Excellent Online Converters That Can Help You Convert Files And Formats

By AN Jay on May 10, 2011 from Smashing Apps

There are many online file converters out there for designers and developers, but getting by good ones is not that easy. That is why I am sharing 11 Excellent Online Converters That Can Help You Convert Files And Formats. Read each entry in the list and see which one suits your needs best. You are welcome if you want to share more online converters that our readers may like.

iWebPrint

You can convert web pages to elegant printer friendly PDF. It will also help you to save, read, and print dDirectly from your Browser. There is an option to control page size (Letter, Legal, A0-A9, B0-B10, +more), control orientation (Landscape, Portrait), Control PDF Mode (Color, Gray). If you want, you can exclude web page images or background to optimize printing. You can also use it as Chrome Extension or Firefox Add-On.

PDF to Flash Page Flip

This online tool will help you to convert your pdf files into a flash flipping book movie. This interesting tool will make your pdf visually more attractive and interactive.

FontConverter

With this online font converter you can convert even exotic font file formats into another format. They support most font file formats common on Mac or PC.

Free Online OCR

Free Online OCR is a free service that allows you to easily convert scanned documents, faxes, screenshots and photos into editable and searchable text, such as DOC, TXT or PDF.

Free online file converter

This free online file converter lets you convert media easy and fast from one format to another. They support a lot of different source formats, just try. If you can’t find the conversion you need, you can contact them. They will try to help you.

Picasion

You can create animated GIF online for free, Just upload your pictures or grab them from Flickr or Picasa Web, make avatars or funny animations and post it to MySpace, HI5, Facebook, eBay, Orkut, Bebo, Digg, QQ, Friendster, etc. To use this tool you do not need flash installed on your system.

Brickify

Brickify is an awesome tool that turns your images into bricked out awesome.

RoboVoice

RoboVoice is a text-to-speech service, that can help you to listen web pages. You may open a one page, starts to play a long text from it, and continues surfing in a new browser window.

CMYK Converter

CMYK Converter is a small application designed to make converting your images between RGB and CMYK colour profiles easy. It is aimed at non-professionals who may not have the desktop tools available. CMYK Converter uses the AppleRGB and US Web Coated SWOP colour profiles for converting.

Neevia Document Converter

Neevia Document Converter makes it possible for anyone to instantly convert many of the file formats that are used daily to PDF or Image. You do not need need to install anything on your computer. Simply upload the file and select your delivery method.

PDF to JPG

If you ever want to convert your pdf files into JPG file for any reason, then you can anytime use this pdf to jpg conversion tool.

Read more: http://www.smashingapps.com/2011/05/10/11-excellent-online-converters-that-can-help-you-convert-files-and-formats.html#ixzz1MGiq1gj3

Smashing Apps has been featured at Wordpress Showcase. If you like Smashing Apps and would like to share your love with us so you can click here to rate them.

Boy wears skirt to school in protest against 'discrimination'

A 12-year-old boy has worn a skirt to school in protest against ''discriminatory'' rules which ban boys from wearing shorts.

Impington Village College pupil Chris Whitehead wears a skirt in protest at his school's policy of making boys wear long trousers in the summer Photo: SWNS

8:53AM BST 10 May 2011

Chris Whitehead wore a girls' knee-length skirt to classes at Impington Village College, near Cambridge, Cambs.

He is protesting against a school uniform policy which bans boys from wearing shorts during the summer months.

He also addressed 1,368 pupils at morning assembly wearing the black skirt, which boys are permitted to wear due to a loophole in the policy.

Chris believes that forcing boys to wear long trousers during the sizzling summer months affects concentration and their ability to learn.

He said: ''In the summer girl students are allowed to wear skirts but boys are not allowed to wear shorts.

''We think that this discriminates against boys. I will march in a skirt with other boys waving banners and making a lot of noise.

''I will be wearing the skirt at school all day in protest at the uniform policy and addressing the assembly with the student council, wearing a skirt.''

Teachers at Impington Village College imposed a ban on boys' shorts two years ago following consultation with parents and teachers.

But when aspiring politician Chris joined the school he was outraged by the policy and pledged to overturn the ban.

The year 8 pupil marched to school through Impington alongside half a dozen pupils waving banners.

Chris's mum Liz Whitehead, 50, has praised her son for standing up for ''what he believes in''.

She said: ''I am delighted that Chris is taking action on what he believes in, which the school actually encourages, so he is only doing what he is taught.

''I am really proud he is brave enough to wear a skirt to school for what he believes in and back him all the way.''

Headteacher Robert Campbell said the ban on shorts was imposed following consultation with students, teachers and parents in 2009.

He said: ''Our uniform policy had a significant consultation and ours is typical of most schools in Cambridgeshire and the consensus was we were going to go for that.

''The issue creeps up during the summer months.

''Ultimately the boys can wear a skirt to school because it doesn't say they can't in the uniform policy and we would be discriminating against them if we did not allow it.

''Chris is a very bright and articulate student and we have got a very strong student council. He is one of only two year 8 pupils on it.

''I know he wants to go into politics and has got strong principles - so maybe Parliament is not the best place for him.''

Who is Osama bin Laden?

from Boing Boing by Xeni Jardin

Screengrab from Sean Bonner. But this is not a joke! In a company blog post today, Yahoo reported that two-thirds of people searching for "Who is Osama Bin Laden?" today were teenagers. Yes, that's right, a non-insignificant number of teenagers in America do not know who Osama bin Laden is.

According to Yahoo!, The Top Searched Questions on Osama bin Laden are (based on Sunday, 5/1):

1. Is Osama bin Laden dead?
2. How did Osama bin Laden die?
3. Who killed Osama bin Laden?
4. How old is Osama bin Laden
5. Who is Osama bin Laden
6. Where was Osama bin Laden killed?
7. Is Osama bin Laden dead or alive?
8. How tall is Osama bin Laden?

News of Osama bin Laden's death seemed to have struck a chord with younger folks who grew up during the war on terrorism.
- On Yahoo!, 1 in 3 searches for "how did osama bin laden die" on Sunday were from teens ages 13-17.
- According to Yahoo!, 40% of searches on Sunday for "who killed osama bin laden" were from people ages 13-20.
- However, it seems teens ages 13-17 were seeking more information as they made up 66% of searches for "who is osama bin laden?"

More here at Yahoo's search blog.