History was made on 12 October 2009: The Guardian was gagged by famously libellous legal firm Carter-Ruck from reporting on an event in the UK parliament. The gag order was the first in memory, said the Guardian, and it flew in the face of a law that has enshrined the right of the British press to report on parliamentary goings-on since the 17th century.
It turns out the Guardian was being gagged from reporting on a question in parliament about toxic-waste dumping in the Ivory Coast by agents of oil traders Trafigura. And when this was revealed elsewhere on the Internet almost immediately, the Twitterverse went ballistic. Soon, Twitter’s top trending topic was this toxic dumping fiasco and Trafigura’s attempt to shut up the Guardian.
Trafigura and Carter-Ruck must have been horrified; they dropped the gag order like a radioactive potato one day after slapping the Guardian with it. Of course, by then it was too late.
Trying to quash information? Then beware the Streisand Effect 
The Guardian followed up its earlier report of being gagged with this:
Within the past hour Trafigura’s legal firm, Carter-Ruck, has withdrawn its opposition to the Guardian reporting proceedings in parliament that revealed its existence.
Labour MP Paul Farrelly put down a question yesterday to the justice secretary, Jack Straw. It asked about the injunction obtained by “Trafigura and Carter-Ruck solicitors on 11 September 2009 on the publication of the Minton Report on the alleged dumping of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast, commissioned by Trafigura”.
The Guardian was due to appear at the High Court at 2pm to challenge Carter-Ruck’s behaviour, but the firm has dropped its claim that to report parliament would be in contempt of court.
So the next time someone asks you, What could Twitter possibly be good for?, answer them thus: To keep the Big Suits from doing whatever they want, whenever they want, to whomever they want.
Because if something historic happened on 12 October 2009, the real history was made the very next day.
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Also see:
There’s nowhere to hide if your name trends on Twitter. Is there, Trafigura?
Mugging the Rich Bastard Lawyers
LauraO says:
Great news that this can now be reported on. 38 Degrees are currently running a campaign to stop this happening again. Take action now by emailing your MP and asking them to take a stand. Take action now, it only takes 2 mins. Go to:
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/stop-the-gag
13th October 2009 at 17:10
What Makes You Think Tyrants Fear The Internet? | Orion Spur says:
[...] they are communists in China, mullahs in Tehran or censorious libel judges in London, all opponents of freedom of expression must be grateful for the cover such empty-headed [...]
13th October 2009 at 12:07