privacy

"Is this a landmark moment for free speech online, with Twitter handing over confidential details of a user for the first time?" asks Rory Cellan-Jones, after Twitter's release of user information in a Californian court to lawyers acting for South Tyneside Council.

Remember Trafigura? Recollect the Max Mosely case? Well this morning we learn that a Premier League footballer has won a new super injunction that prevents journalists writing about his affair with a team-mate’s girlfriend. The gagging order was granted by a High Court judge, Mr Justice Tugendhat, under human rights laws. I am not supposed to tell you that it exists. You can read a lot more about it in the Daily Mail.

Sir David Eady will give the opening address to a privacy conference at the University of Kent next month. Arguably the most influential High court judge in matters involving the media, Eady has presided over numerous key privacy hearings, including those of Sir Max Moseley, singer Loreena McKennitt and, most recently, Tiger Woods. Such is his prominence that the Daily Mail has accused him of having a "virtual monopoly over all cases against the media, enabling him to bring in a privacy law by the back door".

This evening's Panorama deals with one of the most controversial issues facing journalism: privacy. The Human Rights Act guarantees two competing rights viz: freedom of expression and the sanctity of private life.  In the competition between them, where does the public interest lie?  Many editors believe that the courts' interpretation of the right to privacy in cases such as that of Max Mosley v  the News of the World is creating a 'chilling' effect on journalism.  In the past public figures pursued by journalists would reach for their libel lawyer. Now they are turning to the courts to protect their privacy. The threat to traditional red top kiss and tell stories is real, but is kiss and tell in the public interest or just an example of what the public is interested in? Panorama: The Death of Kiss and Tell, is on BBC One tonight (Monday, 15 June) at 2030. Journalists all over the country will watch it.   

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance, especially when Max Mosley reaches for his lawyer.

Paul Dacre had his say at the Society of Editors Conference. Now Max Mosley, the man whose sex life Mr Dacre considers a legitimate topic for newspaper reporting and condemnation, has retaliated in the Guardian. Does Max have a point?