Twitter user sent court order through Twitter message

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A court order has been served through the use of Twitter to an anonymous user who was impersonating a right-wing blogger, according to articles by the BBC and Reuters. The anonymous user could not be reached via normal methods, so the court order was sent to their Twitter account.

The next time the impersonator logs in to their Twitter account, they will be greeted with the court order sent by Britain's High Court and, according to Andre Walker, "will be told to stop posting, to remove previous posts and to identify themselves to the High Court via a web link form."

The court order was sought by right-wing blogger Donal Blaney, who decided to send a court order to an anonymous Twitter user as opposed to contacting Twitter to have the account closed. According to Channel 4 News, the plan was to send part of the court order to the impersonating account in a direct message, and then log the IP address of the user when they visit the link to the full court order.

It would appear that whoever created the plan failed to realise that the user impersonating Mr Blaney may decide not to click the link, considering all the publicity this has generated. In addition, the user could also use a proxy to prevent his IP address being discovered.

The barrister for the case said "No person can now break the law anonymously on the internet in this country. That means no false Twitter accounts, no false Facebook accounts, and no fake blogs. It's a step in a very special direction."

How correct the barrister's statement is remains to be seen.

#1 M_Lyons10 on 02 Oct 2009 - 01:03

Wow. This just doesn't sound like a very effective means to handle something like this to me...

#2 SirDoan on 02 Oct 2009 - 01:05

wow.

#3 kiwi89 on 02 Oct 2009 - 01:16

um.... they fail because the blogger could be using twitter/facebook/whatever through a proxy or from a net cafe/public wifi spot. Then what are they going to do - Send annoying messages or something?

#4 Silverskull on 02 Oct 2009 - 01:21

One word: Tor. Yes, you can be anonymous on the Internet. Get used to it.

Yeah, they really do fail.

#5 BlackSteyrAug on 02 Oct 2009 - 01:26

This is stupid.

#6 artfuldodga on 02 Oct 2009 - 01:40

didn't someone send a court order through Facebook? retarded

#7 Xtreme2damax on 02 Oct 2009 - 02:30

As mentioned this guy could very well be going through a proxy and reside somewhere else other than what his ip address claims. If he happens to be out of their jurisdiction I can see him opening this, giving a small chuckle and continue going on with his life.

#8 nevann on 02 Oct 2009 - 02:59

What did they actually do?

#9 Rudy on 02 Oct 2009 - 03:16

I'm sure he'll listen

#10 neufuse on 02 Oct 2009 - 03:42

oh great this old argument of "how do you prove a person is who they say they are at the IP"..... I thought courts have already said it's impossible to prove who a person is based on an IP.... so how is this in ANY way legally binding?

(2 replies) #11 Amadeke on 02 Oct 2009 - 07:20

As this case seems funny and ridicilous it echos the sad direction in which we are moving.
This again proves that those who make and maintain the law have absolutely no idea what they are doing.
Even more stupid and uncontrolable laws as result in trying to control evil.

#11.1 +Kirkburn on 02 Oct 2009 - 13:24

Amadeke said,

That's a hell of a leap of logic there.

What new law is this? Why do they have "no idea what they're doing"?

Someone is impersonating another person. They're trying to deal with it in the least expensive and annoying way possible.

Exactly how is that bad?

#11.2 m.keeley on 02 Oct 2009 - 19:54

You don't have to serve the injunction via snail mail in the UK, it can be via email, fax etc this is simply an extension of that.

#12 +Tech Greek on 02 Oct 2009 - 13:26

I'll quote Judge Dread...

"I AM THE LAW"

LULZ, stupid gov thinking they can control the internet

(2 replies) #13 Solid Knight on 02 Oct 2009 - 15:05

It's the government; they could have just sent the kill signal to his computer which makes the HDD explode.

#13.1 omnicoder on 02 Oct 2009 - 19:38

Solid Knight said,

#13.2 Tim Dawg on 05 Oct 2009 - 00:44

HDD explode? I thought the whole computer exploded with the secret embedded C4 in all CPU's these days. Didn't you about that? They send the signal then BOOM! Person dies. LOL

(1 reply) #14 m.keeley on 02 Oct 2009 - 19:51

You can be served an injunction in the UK by pretty much any means including e-mail, fax.... so not surprised they've done it via Twitter as that's the target of the injunction.

#14.1 Magallanes on 05 Oct 2009 - 12:45

But can be voided. Let's say, you can say "i did never received such message" is enough to bypass the eviction.

#15 Foxfyre on 03 Oct 2009 - 04:58

Heh....I'll laugh when he clicks on the link, and they trace the IP back to the local Starbucks/Whatever coffee joint/cyber cafe free Wi-Fi....lol.

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