Earlier this month, the British High Court made history by issuing an injunction via Twitter to stop an anonymous Twitter user from impersonating right-wing political blogger and lawyer Donal Blaney. The Twitter account in question, @blaneysblarney, is named after Blaney's blog, uses a real photo of Blaney, and does not give any indication that the account is a fake or parody. The High Court stated that this is a clear breach of Blaney's intellectual property rights and ordered that the user stop posting and immediately identify him or herself to the court via a web link form. The Twitter user targeted by the injunction will receive a direct message with a link to the injunction from Blaney's attorney the next time he or she accesses Twitter.
The decision to serve the writ via Twitter is a legal first and could have widespread implications for the blogosphere. British law states that an injunction can be delivered electronically over email or fax; however, this is the first court to establish that microblogging sites can be used to serve legal injunctions. The ruling is being hailed as a huge step forward in preventing anonymous abuse of the Internet. As reported by Reuters (
http://bit.ly/f1pz3), Matthew Richardson, the barrister representing Blaney in this case, stated: "People have to learn that they can no longer hide behind the cloak of anonymity the Internet provides and break the law with impunity."
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