The financial information web site International Interactive
Investor has been ordered by a UK court to hand over the names and
IP addresses of contributors to its bulletin board following an
action by Scoot.com, the on-line business directory, because the
bulletin boards contained allegedly defamatory material.
Under the Data Protection Act 1998, personal data is normally
protected against disclosure. However, it is not protected from
disclosure where the disclosure is required by the order of a
court.
Civil liberties groups said the ruling was against the right of
free speech. Malcolm Hutty, of the civil liberties group Campaign
Against Censorship of the Internet is reported by ZD Net UK as
saying: “If people are publishing in the belief of anonymity, then
to break that is extremely worrying... The answer really is that
authors ought to be aware that their details may be yielded under
certain circumstances.”
Scoot.com is understood to be taking no further action against
International Interactive Investor and has made no comment on
whether the individuals responsible for the postings will be taken
to court.
In the US last month, a Florida judge ordered Yahoo! and AOL to
reveal the identity of two individuals posting allegedly defamatory
messages on messages boards. Conversely, Yahoo! was sued last month
for revealing the identities to third parties of individuals making
defamatory postings without prior notice to the individuals.
