THE effectiveness of superinjunctions has been cast in doubt eversince Manchester United footballer Ryan Giggs was publicly outed onthe internet and in Parliament.
Millions of computer users were able to discover Giggs' secretaffair with former Big Brother contestant Imogen Thomas -- weeksbefore he was officially named.
Giggs' identity was made public by Liberal Democrat MP JohnHemmings, who used parliamentary privilege to name the player,adding that 75,000 people had already identified him on Twitter.
Mr Hemming named the footballer just minutes after the EnglishHigh Court refused to lift a ban on doing so.
Yet it came as little surprise to millions of people who had beenaware of Giggs' identity for days after it was leaked online.
Indeed, supporters mockingly chanted his name last month duringManchester United's final league match against Blackpool, which wasbeamed to a worldwide audience.
And he was mentioned more than 30,000 times on Twitter, ensuringanyone still unaware of his identity could discover it with a fewclicks of a mouse.
Then, on May 22, Giggs' face was published on the front page of Glasgow's Sunday Herald.
The next day, India's leading newspaper, the Times Of India,printed his picture and named him three times in a report about theinjunction.
Since then further allegations about Giggs' private life haveemerged, including allegations he had an eight-year affair with hissister-in-law.
This has led to speculation that the judiciary was not aware ofthe full nature of his motives for seeking the superinjunction inthe first place. It may yet prove to be the supreme irony that theman who sought to protect himself with a superinjunction has beenthe one to ignite the whole debate over the legal move.
Other celebrities alleged to have obtained superinjunctions havealso been named online.
Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has previously warned the internetis "making a mockery" of privacy laws and has pledged to investigatehow regulations could be improved.
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