[LINK] grog gamut

Richard Chirgwin rchirgwin at ozemail.com.au
Tue Oct 5 08:55:53 AEDT 2010


  On 5/10/10 8:41 AM, David Boxall wrote:
> On 5/10/2010 7:13 AM, Richard Chirgwin wrote:
>> ...
>> To me, the key question in this debate is this: what moral force should
>> be given to the blogger's custom of anonymity? On what arguments can we
>> base the assumption that anonymity is a right?
>> ...
> To me, the key principle is abuse of privilege. Historically, that has
> been a habit of News Limited. This just a current example.
>
> Whether such abuses can be addresses without doing more harm than good
> is another question.
>
But doesn't it become circular? Privilege is abused if there's something 
with publishing the blogger's identity, for which the precondition is a 
right to anonymity, so that publishing the identity is an abuse of 
privilege ... etc.

As much as anything, I'm thinking out loud in this debate. I'm 
uncomfortable with what News did, but I'm also uncomfortable with the 
pitchforks-and-torches tone of the responses.

RC



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