Unhealthy secrecy?
Wednesday, March 20th, 2013A hard call Was the coroner right to suppress the names of the health care workers involved in the tragic death of Zachary Gravatt of menigicoccal disease in 2009? After all, he found the hospital was swamped with swine flu victims and Zachary’s symptoms were very similar. He was given considerable care and attention, and […]
Defamation damages against anonymous Facebook troll(s)
Monday, March 18th, 2013The High Court in Northern Ireland has awarded defamation damages against a defendant known only as “a person or persons adopting the pseudonyms Ann Driver and Alan Driver”. “Ann” and “Alan Driver” had smeared the plaintiffs’ reputations on Facebook. The INFORRM blog suggests that his/her/their true identity was never established, and the judgment will only […]
In my opinion
Tuesday, March 5th, 2013The UK’s Court of Appeal has once again overturned a High Court ruling that a publication was stating fact, not opinion. The guidance that the courts give on this elusive distinction is so useless that it seems that often the only way to tell whether something is a statement of fact or opinion is to […]
Corrections corrected again
Wednesday, February 20th, 2013Let’s admit it up front: running a prison must be a shit of a job. The inmates hardly have a good track record of playing nice or following rules. For all that, it’s a bad look when our Department of Corrections itself disobeys the law. Which it seems to do routinely. A few years back […]
Bad Target practice
Tuesday, February 19th, 2013Don’t like a decision of the Broadcasting Standards Authority? Well, just ignore it. That’s what the consumer TV programme Target seems to have done. Back in 2007, the BSA made it clear that Target is invading trade workers’ privacy when it invites them into its mock home for its hidden camera trials. That doesn’t mean […]
Are host ISPs liable for bloggers’ defamation?
Monday, February 18th, 2013The answer now appears to be: “yes, after they’ve been notified”. The English CA has just delivered judgment in the appeal against Eady J’s decision in Tamiz v Google. In that case, Eady J had continued a movement away from what seemed to be the first-principles position: that ISPs hosting blogs are publishers at common […]
A media website complaints system arrives
Friday, February 15th, 2013OMSA – the Online Media Standards Authority – is being launched soon. It already has a website, and a code of standards. Looks like it will be operative on, hmmm, April 1. This is a self-regulation effort by all our major broadcasters, who are looking to fill a gaping chasm in the media regulatory landscape: the […]
Parting the clouds
Friday, February 15th, 2013Befogged by this cloud computing stuff? The Privacy Commissioner offers some advice.
Speaking of irresponsible statements by NZ First MPs…
Thursday, February 14th, 2013In this Campbell Live interview about Richard Prosser’s idiotic column, NZ First leader Winston says this (denying that NZ has a successful multicultural society): Right now, we have a review commission going on about a Constitution to make the Treaty of Waitangi the cornerstone of our future Constitution. This is – how shall I put […]
Heal thyself
Tuesday, February 12th, 2013Responding to his MP Richard Prosser’s Investigate column about banning all Muslims from airplanes, did Winston Peters really say this? I’ve told him he cannot have a view that doesn’t have the balance in the other side of the argument. Where on earth does that come from? This was an opinion column. By a politician. Neither […]
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