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Cairn obtains legal interdict: ‘Twitter ban’ and 'gagging order' for Greenpeace

bex @Greenpeace | 20.07.2011 00:04 | Climate Chaos | Repression | Sheffield | World

In its latest move to cover up the truth about its Arctic drilling, Cairn Energy has obtained an extraordinary, wide-ranging legal interdict (injunction) against us, gagging us from posting Tweets and Facebook updates containing photos of yesterday's occupation of their Edinburgh headquarters.



The interdict also demands that we remove our Tweets and Facebook updates carrying pictures of protesters dressed as polar bears - and that we retract photographs issued to national newspapers.

Specifically, the court order prohibits "disseminating, printing, uploading, sharing, copying or otherwise publishing any images, photographs, pictures or other material (or copies thereof) taken or recorded by Greenpeace activists present within 50 Lothian Road, Edinburgh on or around 18 July 2011." 

Cairn is clearly worried that our volunteers got their hands on their secret Arctic oil spill response plan yesterday. This court order is apparently aimed at preventing its publication.

So the Cairn cover up continues; this time, not just at the expense of the Arctic and the environment, but also at the expense of freedom of expression. 

We are deleting the photos but, as you might expect, we're going to keep campaigning to protect the Arctic from reckless corporations who see the melting of the polar ice as a business opportunity.

bex @Greenpeace
- Homepage: http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/climate/breaking-cairn-injunction-twitter-gagging-20110719

Comments

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Cairn are lying

20.07.2011 16:30

In the Guardian  http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jul/20/greenpeace-twitter-injunction-cairn it says

"A spokesman for Cairn said: "Cairn's purpose is not in any way, shape or form to shut down or 'gag' debate – indeed we have been on the record about people's clear right to protest for two years now. The step taken has been to protect confidential information which Greenpeace people have or may have accessed during a near eight-hour occupation of private offices."

Clearly it is not necessary to run to the courts and get them to ban photographs of people dressed as polar bears in order to do that. Cairn are lying, their naim is clearly to stop people talking about them. They will be as successful in that as Canute was at stopping the waves.

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