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Be careful what you blog about
It is very important to be careful what you post on the internet. In a recent case an internet blogger walked away with criminal convictions and significant fines for breaching name suppression laws, despite not having named anyone outright.
So what did the blogger do to earn these convictions? Essentially the blogger posted a series of puzzles, which, when solved, gave the names of high profile people who had name suppression. He posted a series of pictures, a pictogram, and a message in binary code which all revealed names. The blogger also had a list of names posted on his blog, but did not provide details which enabled them to be linked to any court cases.
However the Court said that the fact the information was in code made no difference, as it was still a way of telling others the suppressed names. The information was easily deciphered by moderately internet-savvy readers.
The blogger tried to argue that blogs were a conversation, not a publication, meaning name suppression laws did not apply. However the Court disagreed, saying the internet allows anyone to be a publisher, and a blog is a publication, as it has a written record.
Because the internet allows anyone to be a publisher, it is also very important to be careful what you post on popular social networking sites. The Judge described Twitter as a ‘micro-blog’ and also made it clear that even sites where only a select group can read what you have written, such as Facebook, could count as publications. This means it is important to take care what you post on any social networking sites or risk a criminal conviction for breaking any relevant laws.