The blogosphere is not above the law

While attention is focused on WhaleOil and his latest run-in with the courts over violating a suppression order, another sewerblogger has just been convicted of doing exactly that. The story is front-page news in the Manawatu Standard, but not yet online:

A blogger who revealed the identity of a high-profile political figure in a domestic abuse case, defying a court suppression order, says it was an anger-fuelled error.

"I wish I hadn't now," said sickness beneficiary [name and age deleted - I/S], before being convicted in the Dannevirke District Court yesterday of breaching a name suppression order.

He pleaded guilty to the charge, laid under the Family Court Act, and was given a suspended sentence because he was unable to do community work or pay a fine.

The judge has suppressed any details that would identify the blogsite the comments were posted on. Despite this, the newspaper has given the blogger's name and information on another incident they were involved in which makes it quite clear what the site is (or, if you don't already know, makes it a trivial task to find using Google). Which tells you that the judge doesn't understand the internet very well at all. All it takes is one fact, and your suppression order is meaningless.

In the long run, the judiciary is fighting a losing battle here. While there are clearly cases where name suppression is in the interests of justice (to protect the right to a fair trial, or to protect children who are victims of crime), it is now no longer technologically possible. In order to be effective, suppression orders would have to infringe on the principle of open justice so severely as to be unacceptable in all but the most extreme of cases. Anything less than that is a charade, particularly if it is attempting to suppress information which is already in the public domain. The only way these secrets will be kept is if people believe they deserve to be kept. And in cases involving high profile politicians, sportsmen and celebrities, where there is a whiff of celebrity justice and favours for the powerful, that simply will not happen.