[LINK] grog gamut

Roger Clarke Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au
Tue Oct 5 08:57:02 AEDT 2010


At 14:22 +1100 4/10/10, Kim Holburn wrote:
>  ... Another example of the Murdoch press being self-serving -
>outing a blogger when they have just argued for anonymity of bloggers 
>in South Australia.
>
>Australian unmasks anonymous blogger:
>http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/controversial-political-blogger-unmasked-as-a-federal-public-servant/story-e6frg996-1225929679443
>And tries to justify it:
>http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/why-i-unmasked-blogger-grog/story-e6frg6zo-1225930277362
>
>The blogosphere abuzz!
>http://blogs.crikey.com.au/contentmakers/2010/10/03/more-on-the-ethics-of-outing-grogs-gamut/
>http://grogsgamut.blogspot.com

Sorry I'm late to this.  (I was out-of-range Fri-to-Mon).

The APF's Policy on Privacy and the Media is that it's high time that 
reporting standards were codified.  We put a specific proposal on the 
table:  http://www.privacy.org.au/Papers/Media-0903.html

The outing of a blogger's commonly-used identity needs to be 
justified on public interest grounds.  Using the APF's Framework and 
Guidelines:

>Possible Justifications:
>Consent - Unlikely
>Relevance to the Performance of a Public Office - Unlikely
>Relevance to the Performance of a Corporate or Civil Society 
>Function of Significance - Possible?
>Relevance to the Credibility of Public Statements - Possible?
>Relevance to Arguably Illegal, Immoral or Anti-Social Behaviour -  Unlikely
>Relevance to Public Health and Safety - Unlikely
>Relevance to an Event of Significance - Unlikely
>Any Other Justification - That's up to the publisher to explain

>Mitigating Factors:
>Self-Published Information - Unlikely
>Public Behaviour - Unlikely
>Attention-Seekers - Unlikely

When we finally force a genuine regulatory framework on these 
organisations, instead of the business-excusatory Press Council, 
we'll achieve a decent balance among the various interests.

[Achtung:  I've not looked closely enough at this specific case to 
have a view on it.  Nor does my personal opinion matter much.  What's 
appalling are the absence of a Code against which the outing can be 
measured, and the success of the media industry in avoiding any 
meaningful regulation.]


-- 
Roger Clarke                                 http://www.rogerclarke.com/
			            
Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
                    Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916
mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au                http://www.xamax.com.au/

Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre      Uni of NSW
Visiting Professor in Computer Science    Australian National University



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