2013-04-16 10:05:26 +02:00

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# Wikipedia users name celebrities with gagging orders
## The identities of four celebrities who obtained draconian injunctions to
hide details of their extra-marital affairs have been disclosed on Wikipedia,
the online encyclopedia.
![Wikipedia users name celebrities with gagging orders][1]
Imogen Thomas appeared on ITVs 'This Morning' Photo: REX
By [Steven Swinford][2] 6:27AM BST 28 Apr 2011
Their profiles on the website, which is read by more than 400million people a
month and allows anyone to edit it, have been altered by users intent on
naming them.
While Wikipedia's administrators have removed the references from the
celebrities' pages they remain accessible in a historic log.
One of the most heavily affected Wikipedia pages belonged to a Premier League
footballer who allegedly had an affair with Imogen Thomas, the former
contestant on Big Brother.
The allegations were introduced more than 10 times on his Wikipedia page,
despite the best efforts of moderators.
One user wrote: "[He has] lost his discipline and had [sic] been playing away
from home with non [sic] other than Imogen Thomas from Big Brother."
## Related Articles
* [Imogen Thomas: 'I've been thrown to the lions'][3]
27 Apr 2011
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27 Apr 2011
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26 Apr 2011
* [Bill of Rights could prevent super-injunctions][6]
26 Apr 2011
An actor who obtained a privacy injunction after cheating on his wife with a
prostitute was also identified on Wikipedia. He had found it increasingly
difficult to keep his name a secret after Helen Wood, of Manchester, told a
newspaper that he had paid her £195 for sex. Wayne Rooney, the England
footballer, previously paid Miss Wood £1,000 for an encounter.
One user wrote under the charity section of the actor's Wikipedia profile page
that he was a "patron [of a] prostitute in the Manchester area". Another
changed his middle name to "super-injunction".
A star whose celebrity mistress was sacked after his wife discovered their
affair was also exposed. One entry stated: "In April 2011 it was revealed that
[the man] was the subject of an injunction banning newspapers from naming him
as ETK, the entertainer having an affair."
The fourth celebrity targeted on Wikipedia was a television presenter who took
out a super-injunction to stop his ex-wife from alleging that they had an
affair after he remarried. Comments on his profile hinting that he had
obtained an injunction were taken down.
Media lawyers said the disclosure of the men's identities on the internet
sounded the "death knell" for privacy injunctions. "These orders are
increasingly redundant because their names are all over Wikipedia and social
networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook," said Niri Shan, head of media
law at the legal firm Taylor Wessing. "Because many of these websites are
abroad the injunctions are unenforceable."
A spokesman for Wikipedia said that if the allegations were posted repeatedly
the pages could be "locked" to limit those who could edit them. He added,
that, because Wikipedia was based in the United States, it was not bound by
the injunctions.
"The servers are based in the US so Wikipedia is not liable," he said. "People
have tried to sue the foundation for libellous content but it's been thrown
out. Our material has to be really well referenced or it is chucked out
immediately."
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