Super-injunctions and anonymised injunctions – what next?
The last couple of weeks have been tantalising for anyone with even a vague interest in privacy law. Key highlights have been Max Mosley’s unsuccessful attempts to make it a legal requirement that the press give prior notification to individuals about whose private lives they intend to write, the Ryan Giggs furore, (including attempts to get Twitter to disclose details of the people responsible for leaking Giggs’ name on Twitter), David Cameron’s disquiet with the situation, John Hemming’s controversial use of Parliamentary Privilege to name Giggs in the House of Commons and the Report of the Committee on Super-Injunctions, chaired by the Master of the Rolls, Lord Neuberger. This week has seen an unnamed individual attempt to initiate criminal contempt of court proceedings against his sister-in-law for allegedly posting foreign internet postings, revealing that he had obtained an injunction against her. The problem is that the contempt proceedings would have to be heard in private if the parties’ identities are to remain anonymous. This article looks at where we are now and what might happen next.
Lawyers Niri Shanmuganathan, Lorna Caddy, Adam Rendle
