Sunday 21 June 2009

You take on the bloggers at your peril


Unmasking an anonymous blogger can ruin your reputation and threaten your career

Last week the anonymous, many-headed beast of the blogosphere was once again stirred into full fury after a High Court judge allowed the naming of Horton, the serving police constable who wrote as Night Jack. Mr Justice Eady said blogging was a “public rather than a private activity” and Horton would not automatically be guaranteed anonymity just for writing under a pseudonym.

Horton, whose vivid description of the day-to-day life of a copper had won the Orwell prize for political writing earlier this year, has received a written warning from his constabulary that some of his posts fell short of the professional standards expected of police officers.

The backlash on the internet against the ruling has been ferocious. That’s not to say there have not been many well argued and engaging debates on the nature of anonymity and its benefits. (Rightly so: you have only to look at the extraordinary blogs coming out of Iran to see that the case for anonymity can be overwhelming.)


Horton (Night Jack) performed a valid and necessary public service. He held the high command to account, exposing the daftness of the target culture and shed light on the dark recesses of the Home Office and its oft hidden agenda.

Exposing him to the powers that be served no public interest and leaves the Times looking decidedly unworthy of the public's trust. I for one, will not be purchasing the times again.


7 comments:

  1. I might attempt, as recession bites, try and find an old copy to wipe my bum on.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It appears that someone has started to focus on me and I'm not fucking happy about it. Apart from having a video removed from YouTube I appear to have attracted interest from the DTP too.

    Well, they can fuck off!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Too scratchy for me. I put some in the cat's litter tray and she ran outside in the rain. She wouldn't come back until I took it out and binned it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. They got us all running scared. No. Fuck them!

    ReplyDelete
  5. No more Times / Sunday Times in this house. Not even a copy to show the grandchildren how "it used to be"..

    ReplyDelete
  6. Indeed. And long may they continue to do so.

    ReplyDelete

But there's no one to check

  "Political World" We live in a political world Love don't have any place We're living in times ...