The Council of South Tyneside in the North of England has approached the U.S. court in California demanding information from Twitter about the identity of a particular user.
This particular user has been using the pseudonym ‘Mr. Monkey’ and publishing unsavoury and slanderous material about councilors of the South Tyneside council.
Twitter has given in to the pressure and has released information regarding the user to its lawyers, according to Paul Robinson the council spokesman. This information includes the users name, address, telephone number, email address, and geographic location of the user. The information is being analysed by technical experts.
It is believed that the blogger is Ahmed Khan who is an independent councilor with the council. He is believed to have been using five different accounts on Twitter.
Mr. Khan has, however, denied the allegations of being the person in question. He says, “I’m the kind of person who will tell you face-to-face what I think. I have no need to use an anonymous blog.” He has, however, admitted that he did not approve of some of the policies of other councilors. He has also criticized the amount of money the council is believed to have spent on this legal action.
This is believed to be the first legal action of its kind in the U.K. and its success may give rise to a spate of other such litigations.
Just a few days ago, there had been a hue and cry regarding the revelation of the identity of a footballer who allegedly had an affair. His name was revealed on Twitter, in spite of a gagging order. The footballer whose privacy was publicly flounted could follow South Tyneside council’s example and he too may now pressurize Twitter to identify the user who disclosed his identity.
