A British lawmaker defied a court ruling yesterday by naming Ryan Giggs as the footballer who used an injunction keep details of an alleged affair secret, escalating a row over privacy laws and the Internet
A British lawmaker defied a court ruling yesterday by naming Ryan Giggs as the footballer who used an injunction keep details of an alleged affair secret, escalating a row over privacy laws and the Internet.
Liberal Democrat MP John Hemming named the Manchester United player using his centuries-old right to freedom of speech in the House of Commons, despite an injunction which gave the married sportsman anonymity in the British media.
Ryan Giggs
Hemming acted after a Scottish newspaper on Sunday published Giggs's photograph, arguing that it could no longer support a gagging order while the footballer had been named by thousands of people on microblogging site Twitter.
"With about 75,000 people having named Ryan Giggs on Twitter it's obviously impractical to imprison them all," Hemming told lawmakers.
Prime Minister David Cameron had also admitted yesterday that the situation was "unsustainable" and vowed to look into it.
Hemming was rebuked by the Speaker, but not before journalists had taken note ufffd the media are entitled to report parliamentary proceedings without fear of being sued, and Hemming's words were swiftly used nationwide to name Giggs.
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