Little birdie tweets super-injunction secrets and Max loses in Europe

Twitter has rendered super-injunctions "pointless", according to former Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice Lord Falconer.  An anonymous Twitter user recently posted a list of celebrities who have allegedly obtained such injunctions. This has resulted in several celebrities including Jemima Khan denying they were linked with any injunction. If traced the anonymous Twitter user could find themselves in jail for contempt of court.

Twitter is resisting censorship calls, with co-founder Biz Stone commenting "Freedom of expression is essential. We don't always agree with the things people choose to tweet, but we keep the information flowing irrespective of any view we may have about the content." It took a similar stance earlier this year in response to requests to clamp down on accounts related to WikiLeaks, the website that leaked confidential American diplomatic cables. Also, the courts have rejected an attempt by Max Mosely, former F1 chief to force newspapers to warn people before exposing details of their private lives in the European Court of Human Rights. Arguably, warning celebrities before publishing could have led to even more super-injunctions to suppress negative stories.

Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Secretary stated "We need to get into a situation where regulation and legislation is up to speed with changes in technology and that we get the balance right between the rights of an individual and the rights we all cherish for freedom of expression." MPs on the Justice Committee are now set to launch a full investigation into super-injunctions, which several of them yesterday described as an “affront” to freedom of speech and the Master of the Rolls, Lord Neuberger, is due to publish a report on privacy at the end of this month.