“The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.” – John Gilmore

There is no explicitly guaranteed freedom of the press in the UK and the libel laws in that country are tilted strongly in favor of the plaintiffs. That left The Guardian in a bizarre situation. Under threat of lawsuit, they could not report on something that was already part of the public record (see item 61 under “Questions for Written Answer”). They could not report on the subject itself, the MP asking the question, the minister expected to answer the question, the companies involved, where the information could be found or even why or under what justification that they were being prevented from reporting. They could only report the name of the solicitors suing them, Carter-Ruck.

Cue the Streisand Effect. Random citizens started blogging and tweeting about the injunction, creating enough bad PR to get Carter-Ruck to drop the injunction. The Norwegian press has now broken their part of the story, with a full report coming from The Guardian on their being blocked from reporting on the illegal dumping off the Ivory Coast and elsewhere by Trafigura.

Things like this and what happened after the Iranian election amaze me. Just two days ago the “big” news on Twitter was Miley Cyrus quitting Twitter, which may have been a carefully constructed publicity stunt all along since it was done via Youtube. Like so much of the web, Twitter’s filled inconsequential chatter most of the time, except when it suddenly it springs into action and helps defend press freedom in the UK or reveal to the entire world the protests and subsequent brutal crackdown after the rigged Iranian elections. Maybe LOLcats and other image macros are the price we all pay to hold this capacity in reserve.