Footballer's Twitter disclosure order prompts online action
Hundreds of Twitter users have reacted to a footballer's bid to find out who is putting information about him on the website by posting new messages online.
The player, who an injunction says can only be identified as CTB, is taking action against ex-Big Brother star Imogen Thomas and the Sun newspaper.
He has now obtained a High Court order asking Twitter to reveal details of users who had revealed his identity.
Twitter has not commented but hundreds of users have repeated his name online.
'Fully entitled'
Papers lodged in the High Court against Twitter and "persons unknown" request disclosure of Twitter users said to have published confidential details.
The order against the US-based micro-blogging website requires Twitter to disclose the requested information within seven days - or within the appropriate time required by the law in California, where it has its headquarters.
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ANALYSIS
image of Torin Douglas Torin Douglas BBC media correspondent
Once again Twitter finds itself centre stage in the debate over privacy.
Two weeks ago, one Twitter follower made a concerted attempt to challenge the law by pulling together, in a short burst of tweets, the names of celebrities thought to have taken out gagging orders.
Jemima Khan poured petrol on the flames by tweeting a denial, giving broadcasters and newspapers a legitimate peg to run the story.
Websites such as Twitter have put a huge strain on the ability of the courts to enforce gagging orders and it has been widely assumed there is no legal redress against them.
The Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt said this week that digital media had made an ass of the law and it was hard to enforce injunctions against Twitter because it was incorporated in the United States.
Now it seems the law is about to be tested.
Lawyers at Schillings, who represent CTB, have issued a statement clarifying the action it has taken.
It said it was not suing Twitter but had made an application "to obtain limited information concerning the unlawful use of Twitter by a small number of individuals who may have breached a court order".
It comes days after a High Court judge said the footballer was "fully entitled" to anonymity.
Justice Eady has reserved judgement on lifting the injunction after a private hearing with the man's lawyers, the Sun and former Miss Wales Imogen Thomas in London.
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