The Streisand effect

Written By: - Date published: 9:01 am, September 5th, 2014 - 31 comments
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ede

So Cameron Slater is off to the High Court today, aided by a very capable Barrister, John Billington QC.

Mr Billington is not cheap. Slater’s Whaleoil site must be very profitable, presuming that he is actually paying Billington’s fees.  Steven Joyce denied this morning that the National Party has had anything to do with the litigation.  But the circumstances make you wonder who is paying for the case.

I suspect that Slater’s prospects against the unknown fourth defendant are very good.  After all if someone hacks your website and downloads your data there should be a legal remedy.

His prospects against the media are not so good. As long as the media confirm that personal emails should remain private then the Judge may be tempted to allow at least the Jason Ede emails to be published. After all a great amount of detail about these emails has been published.  And Slater has (hasn’t he?) claimed that at least the Facebook messages are forged and the need for an injunction to prevent the spreading of a falsehood that can be disproved should not be necessary.  Slater may however be able to get an interim injunction so that the matter can be properly argued.

But Slater has talked repeatedly on his blog about the Streisand effect, “the phenomenon whereby an attempt to hide, remove, or censor a piece of information has the unintended consequence of publicizing the information more widely, usually facilitated by the Internet.”  I wonder if he thought of this when he filed his case.

There is a strong hint of hypocrisy in Slater engaging in this action.  He claimed that going into the Labour Party server and downloading its CMS data is somehow different to the hacker going into Cameron’s computer and downloading a copy of his email.

He has also refused to respect Matt Blomfield’s rights of privacy while he now asserts his own rights of privacy in very similar circumstances.

The last person that I am aware of who tried to injunct an unknown person to prevent the release of private information was Don Brash.  That did not end well.  Time till tell if Cameron Slater and co will face a similar fate.

31 comments on “The Streisand effect ”

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  1. disturbed 1
    5 September 2014 at 10:16 am

    “But Slater has talked repeatedly on his blog about the Streisand effect, “the phenomenon whereby an attempt to hide, remove, or censor a piece of information has the unintended consequence of publicizing the information more widely, usually facilitated by the Internet.” I wonder if he thought of this when he filed his case.”

    To quote Key’s words, “the public will see it for what it is”
    Think who is really behind the killing off of Dirty Politics?

    Key Collins and a slew of others Hochins included.

    This is their campaign In secret to subvert the natural course of justice here, or an intentional attack on the democratic principals of this land.

    We need a Royal Commission I have screamed and sealing of evidence we still may have locked behind closed doors.
    Sign the petition for us to order GG to provide a full Royal Commission of inquiry and impeachment.

    I just signed this petition — will you join me?

    Governor General of New Zealand: Investigate all the allegations of corruption in the National government
    To: Governor General of New Zealand

    The petition is really important and could use our help. Click here to find out more and sign:
    http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Governor_General_of_New_Zealand_Investigate_all_the_allegations_of_corruption_in_the_National_government/?keArPbb

    Thanks so much,

  2. karol 2
    5 September 2014 at 10:18 am

    I guess if Slater was paid by corporate/commercial interests for “hits” against opponents, the same interested parties may be willing to stump up for an expensive lawyer…?

  3. ianmac 3
    5 September 2014 at 10:27 am

    Slater will have re read the emails in the timeframe and is terrified that should the crucial ones be published, it will finally bring the Government to its knees.

  4. disturbed 4
    5 September 2014 at 11:05 am

    Mickey can opposition call for this to be their promise post election please?

    We need a proper commission dedicated to political crime like Australia does so why are we mulling around with this hatchet job on our democracy by the ruling elite when Australia is not?

    Quote this note about what Australia is going through right now.

    A serious drama has been unfolding in the state of NSW concerning corruption being uncovered by NSW ICAC. ICAC (Independent Commission against Corruption) is an independent body that investigates government bodies (local and central) and employees including parliamentarians

    An ICAC is a permanent continuous “Royal Commission”

    NSW ICAC was set up in the 1980’s, claimed one scalp, the then premier (equivalent to NZ’s PM) of NSW. Then it went dormant for nearly 20 years until a geophysicist lodged an anonymous enquiry with the Australian Stock Exchange wanting an explanation as to how a listed company could acquire a government issued Licence to Explore for Coal for $1 million and the following week seek to raise additional capital valuing that same licence at $500 million.

    The repercussions of that innocent enquiry have been huge. The tentacles have spread out claiming scalp after scalp of MP’s of the current Liberal (National) government (who are in their first term in power after 20 years in opposition) have lost 10 MP’s who have either voluntarily resigned, or stood aside or been forced out. 16% of the elected right-wing MP’s gone in just 10 months

    They just couldn’t wait to get there hands into the “pots-of-gold” that comes with power

    What is interesting
    The hearings are conducted in public. For the last 2 years they have been the only game in town as MP after MP resigns. The only newspaper reporting these misdeeds is Fairfax Media (Stuff in NZ). Newscorp (Murdoch Press) the dominant media news-outlet never report on the goings of ICAC. Overt Censorship.

    What is further interesting is that none of this has been commented on in the NZ press

    Queensland has an ICAC in the form of a CMC
    Victoria has an IBAC, is in its first year, conducts hearings in private and has yet to report

    South Australia has been under pressure to set up an ICAC
    Here is a report from the SA.ICAC commissioner on its first year of operations
    public-servant-faces-likely-icac-corruption-charges

    That interview-report is a worthwhile read – compare that to NZ Auditor General Office

    Read the statement of purpose of NSW ICAC
    http://www.icac.nsw.gov.au/
    Members of the public and public officials are encouraged to report suspected corrupt conduct to the ICAC.

    New Zealand needs an ICAC

  5. ianmac 5
    5 September 2014 at 11:08 am

    Graeme Edgler and Andrew Geddis both think that Slater will win his injunction against Rawshark.
    I think, that they think it would be harder to get one against the Newspapers because they only print the political stuff.

    • CrashCart 5.1
      5 September 2014 at 11:42 am

      So if that is what happens will that mean that the MSN would not be able to print anything they receive directly from Rawshark as it would be seen as complicit in him ignoring the ruling? If so does that mean that he could dump all the info on the net and then the press could go through it and pick out what they want?

      Or does it just mean that Rawshark is told he can’t release info but if he chooses to continue to pass it to media outlets they are free to run with what they want from it?

      Seems to me it would put everyone in a very difficult position deciding whether or not a ruling like that prevents them using information from Rawshark.

  6. karol 6
    5 September 2014 at 11:10 am

    Love the image on the front page for this post – Jason Ede, wherefore art thou?

  7. cogito 7
    5 September 2014 at 11:24 am

    Hopefully the hacker will release some king-hits before any injunction is obtained.

    Something major needs to come out that points directly at Key, as right now he seems to be wriggling out again and causing mischief, especially on the whole issue of Labour’s CGT policy.

  8. Anne 8
    5 September 2014 at 11:30 am

    There’s a good chance he already has, but the news outlets are not releasing anything because of today’s court case. And if the injunction succeeds they won’t be releasing anything.

  9. Jeeves Ponzi 9
    5 September 2014 at 11:38 am

    It is time to get some quotes from the rest of the Ferals-
    Lusk, Graham, Odgers, Eades-
    THe MSM should be following them down the street and firing questions at them- let’s see what they look like in the disinfecting light

  10. dave 10
    5 September 2014 at 12:01 pm

    He can get all the injunctions he wants it never works on the internet

  11. Disabled Liberation Aotearoa NZ DLANZ 11
    5 September 2014 at 12:02 pm

    Conspiracy theories worry me, but I can recognise your concerns. Anything to do with Steven Joyce smacks of ‘slither’ in my view….Sky Casino etc

    Cameron Slater will swear till he’s blue that he is ‘innocent’…..shows no real integrity for he is being hypocritical. Disabled have long had to put up with selfish people…ie Paula Bennet types ‘laissez faiaire’…I don’t care…attitudes and hope the electorate can vote them out.

    Regards and keep smiling
    Doug Hay
    Cordinator – D;ANZ

    • Tracey 11.1
      5 September 2014 at 12:56 pm

      All the best you Doug

      One reason I want universal income is so the disabled who cannot work are doomed to a meagre life of less than subsistence

  12. coolas 12
    5 September 2014 at 12:04 pm

    Slater’s rush to injunction could well be motivated by desperation to suppress the vile speak as well as politics. The exchanges with Jordan Williams are peppered with racism, homophobia and misogamy. Can’t imagine his wife is happy to hear that, “if they didn’t have c***s we’d be stoning them.” We all knew Slater was a nasty piece of work, but just how repulsive he is, is shocking.

  13. karol 13
    5 September 2014 at 12:05 pm

    Rawshark has just said goodbye via twitter.

    This was never about party politics for me. I have done what I set out to do. It is time to go. #whaledump

    So nothing more from him. Over to the media and others. whaledump2 tweeted.

    To targeted ratfuckers: Good luck lying. Remaining dumps are with journos. You feeling lucky, punk? #whaledump

  14. disturbed 14
    5 September 2014 at 12:18 pm

    They would never have gotten away with gagging in Australia, and if successful we will be the laughing stock of the world.

    Look at history, what happened in Britain when documents were seized from News of the World?

    No one placed an injunction on evidence, as they are contemplating here as the Leviston inquiry proceeded.

    You can bet that key is waiting for a success as that wilkl then allow him to release the phoney terms of reference for the Gwyn inquiry.

    We need a proper Independent commission against corruption as Australia has ICAC.

    Why not? Please watch this Otago University debate from 1pm today as Nicky Hager will be there. 1pm – 3pm

  15. jaymam 15
    5 September 2014 at 12:46 pm

    June 2011

    Aaron Bhatnagar, 6/11, 7:43pm
    You should say ” I want to remind the Labour party laws of the defamation laws of the land if they accuse me of hacking. I have not hacked, nor have I received from hackers, any of the information. Say otherwise and I’ll sue.

    that means they can only raise it in the house, which makes the matter worse because it opens up for Nats to leap in and attack.
    ————————-
    Cameron Slater, 6/11, 7:44pm
    this is going to be a feeding frenzy
    especially when i publish all the credit card tranactions
    ————————-
    Aaron Bhatnagar, 6/11, 7:44pm
    keep your phone charged then – you will need the battery life!
    ————————-
    Cameron Slater, 6/11, 7:45pm
    then the mebership lists
    then the 18000 emails
    ————————-
    Aaron Bhatnagar, 6/11, 7:45pm
    lol
    ————————-
    Cameron Slater, 6/11, 7:45pm
    death by a 1000 leaks
    i have also cross referenced names wityh letter writers
    i will have the definitive list of labour activits
    ————————-
    Aaron Bhatnagar, 6/11, 7:45pm
    bigger than hagar’s book.

  16. Tracey 16
    5 September 2014 at 12:53 pm

    if slater is making money through his blog, does he meet the definition of “in trade” in the Fair Trading Act?

    If yes, perhaps some complaints to the comcom that by posting in his name the work of others he is misleading and deceiving those who consume his blog supply—

    (a) in relation to goods, includes supply (or resupply) by way of gift, sale, exchange, lease, hire, or hire purchase; and

    (b) in relation to services, includes provide, grant, or confer;—

    and supply as a noun, supplied, and supplier have corresponding meanings

    trade means any trade, business, industry, profession, occupation, activity of commerce, or undertaking relating to the supply or acquisition of goods or services or to the disposition or acquisition of any interest in land

    Complaint form

    Be sure to reference the material from whaledump and DP

    http://www.comcom.govt.nz/the-commission/making-a-complaint/online-complaint-form/

  17. ianmac 17
    5 September 2014 at 1:47 pm

    Item (4) of the Terms of Reference:
    identify and report on any other issues relevant to the above matters, to the extent
    necessary to provide a complete report on those matters.

    Does this really open up the Enquiry to anything beyond Cactus Kate’s remarkably convenient email?

    • Tracey 17.1
      5 September 2014 at 2:57 pm

      I hope she can conclude her report with

      In the course of this investigation a number of important matters arose which require further investigation but are beyond these terms of reference.

  18. Ron 18
    5 September 2014 at 2:19 pm

    Interesting that two organisations do not seem to be mentioned in the injunction attempt. Radio NZ and TVNZ. Of course that could be because national already control those organisations and trust them not to rock things?

    • karol 18.1
      5 September 2014 at 2:25 pm

      No, it’s because Slater has targeted the news organisations that have received material from the Hacker. Maybe that is because the hacker doesn’t see TVNZ or RNZ journos as reliable/supportive?

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