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Blogger Charged Again for Name Suppression Breach
Prominent Blogger Charged Again for Breach of Name Suppression
Cameron Slater, proprietor of the popular Whale Oil Beef Hooked blog has been summoned to appear in court on the 16th of June for breaching the name suppression order relating to a senior public servant accused of assaulting a man in a car in Wellington.
Mr Slater says “I will be vigorously defending this charge on the same grounds as all the other charges. I will also be questioning whether the law is an ass, because anyone who wants to can find the details of the suppressed name using Google in seconds”.
The post Mr Slater has been summoned to appear for refers to two links from major news sites online, one of which, the Otago Daily Times, still has its story from May 2009 online.
“This whole case highlights the inept law, and the inept Minister who has had ample warning to make changes. We can change cell phone in cars laws, and remove the provocation defense but Simon “FIGJAM” Power cannot make a simple change to a law that is both unfair and practically unenforceable in the internet age”.
Without wanting to accuse the police of bias in this case, Mr Slater would like draw attention to the numerous other cases of name suppression he may have breached, and wonders why he has only been charged in this case.
He also finds it odd that the summons was served at 10.52pm. “I like to think I support the police who have been tied in knots by successive justice ministers who favour criminals over victims, and who think the police are evil when they are clearly doing a difficult job in trying circumstances. It concerns me that the police look silly for serving a summons at such an hour when if they had have called me I would have happily told them when and where I would be in normal business hours.”
Mr Slater will be continuing his fight against New Zealand’s implausibly stupid name suppression laws, and is grateful to the Crown Prosecutors for giving him and his blog more media attention.
Original Post
http://whaleoil.gotcha.co.nz/2010/05/19/strange-name-suppression/
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