Privacy legislation may be needed, says culture minister

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt told the Press Gallery at Westminster that he would be reviewing super-injunctions and wider privacy issues.

"We need to get into a situation where regulation and legislation is up to speed with changes in technology and that we get the balance right between the rights of an individual and the rights we all cherish for freedom of expression," Hunt told reporters, according to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Celebrities are increasingly asking courts to stop newspapers publishing details of their private lives, claiming that it is a breach of their right to a private and family life as guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights and the Human Rights Act.

Courts are issuing not only injunctions preventing publication of details but also super-injunctions which stop media outlets from reporting the existence of the injunctions.

At the weekend an anonymous Twitter user posted allegations about various celebrities' private lives claiming to identify celebrities that the person claimed had been the subject of super-injunctions.

Some newspapers reported one allegation about charity fundraiser and human rights campaigner Jemima Khan which she denied and said the reporting of it was proof that she did not possess a court order.

"Technology, and Twitter in particular, is making a mockery of the privacy laws that we have and we do need to think about the regulatory environment that we have," Jeremy Hunt, Culture Secretary, said. "We are in this crazy situation where information is available freely online which you are not able to print in newspapers."

"Whatever the law tries to do on privacy, the internet is a very powerful force that you can't buck so we do need to look at it," Hunt said

Master of the Rolls Lord Neuberger is expected to publish a report into super-injunctions by the end of May.

On Tuesday former motor racing boss Max Mosley lost a battle in the European Court of Human Rights to force editors to tell people before publishing private revelations about them.

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