Professional Update
A
monthly newsletter for KZN Attorneys from the Kwazulu-Natal Law Society

12 June 2009

This professional service draws attention to current and important items of news
 and members are directed to the hosts' websites

 

InfoUpdate 12 of 2009
Useful Links
and Items of Interest 
 

 
Miscellaneous E-Things

Top French court rips heart out of Sarkozy internet law - 1 June
France's highest court has inflicted an embarrassing blow to President Sarkozy by cutting the heart out of a law that was supposed to put France in the forefront of the fight against piracy on the internet. The Constitutional Council declared access to the internet to be a basic human right, directly opposing the key points of Mr Sarkozy's law, passed in April, which created the first internet police agency in the democratic world. Mr Sarkozy and Christine Albanel, his Culture Minister, forced the law through parliament despite misgivings from many of the President's centre-right MPs. It was rejected in its first passage through Parliament. - Times Online website
Keyphrases :
HADOPI
Intellectual Property Rights

Blogging

Ruling on NightJack author Richard Horton kills blogger anonymity - 17 June
Thousands of bloggers who operate behind the cloak of anonymity have no right to keep their identities secret, the High Court ruled yesterday. In a landmark decision, Mr Justice Eady refused to grant an order to protect the anonymity of a police officer who is the author of the NightJack blog. In April Mr Horton was awarded the Orwell Prize for political writing, but the judges were unaware that he was using information about cases, some involving sex offences against children, that could be traced back to genuine prosecutions. Lancashire Constabulary said : "He has been spoken to regarding his professional behaviour and, in line with disciplinary procedures, has been issued with a written warning". - Times Online website

Writer advised on how to evade long arm of the law - 17 June
If the Police arrive to lock you up, say nothing. You are a decent person and you may think that reasoning with the Police will help. Wrong.” It is not quite the advice you would expect to receive from a serving police officer. But Detective Constable Richard Horton, of Lancashire Constabulary, gave readers of his NightJack blog the full benefit of the knowledge that he had gained from 17 years in the force as to how to extract oneself from the grasp of the long arm of the law. - Times Online website

InfoUpdate : an Information Service supplied by the KwaZulu-Natal Law Society