Scenario in UK

Cases

Totalise Plc. V. Motley Fool Ltd. & Another
In that case, Totalise, the UK-based ISP, requested web sites Motley Fool and Interactive Investor International to disclose the identity of the person who used the name "Zeddust" anonymously posted defamatory material to their discussion boards.

The Motley Fool and Interactive Investor discussion boards acted as discussion forums for various companies. Zeddust began posting defamatory comments on Motley Fool's web site. After complaints by Totalise, Zeddust was temporarily removed and then finally banned. Totalise sought disclosure of Zeddust's identity but refused by Motley Fool. Postings began appearing on Interactive Investor's web site. Interactive Investor removed the postings but refused disclosure. So Totalise went to court seeking an order for disclosure of identity.

The defendants attempted to rely on the terms and conditions for access to their websites and section 35 of the Data Protection Act 1998 ("DPA"), which provides that personal data shall not be disclosed except by legal compulsion, and to rely on section 10 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 ("CCA") which provides that "No court may require a person to disclose… the source of information contained in a publication for which he is responsible, unless it can be established to the satisfaction of the court that disclosure is necessary in the interests of justice or national security or for the prevention of disorder or crime.

It was considered that the protection provided to newspapers by the Contempt of Court Act had no application to Motley Fool and Interactive Investor because neither took responsibility for what was posted on their discussion boards nor exercised editorial control, and it was believed that, in any event, disclosure was necessary "in the interests of justice." In view of the potential audience for the postings and the potential harm to Totalise, the judge held that the balance fell in favour of Totalise otherwise one could defame with impunity behind the screen of anonymity by the use of websites on the Internet.