The Irish Red Cross Sues Google To Silence Anonymous Blogger, Amplifying That Blogger's Message

from the and-that-backfired dept

Claire Ryan wrote in to let us know about the bizarre situation in Ireland, where the Irish Red Cross has sued Google in an attempt to identify and silence an anonymous blogger who has been very critical of the organization. It's worth noting, by the way, that Google is apparently one of the Red Cross' largest donors. Apparently, the Irish Red Cross is specifically upset that the blogger claimed that $150,000 that the Irish Red Cross collected for the Asian tsunami appeal was not actually used for that. Instead, the blogger claims, it was held in a bank for years, and the money was only moved after there was an audit which discovered the account.

Of course, it sounds like nearly everything about the Irish Red Cross' decision to go legal is backfiring. This story, which wasn't getting much attention, is now getting a ton of attention -- and it's not looking good for the Irish Red Cross. Apparently, because of the publicity over the Irish Red Cross' decision to sue Google, The Sunday Times ran a front page article about the $150,000.

In other words, by suing to try to silence the blogger over this particular issue, the issue itself has become front page news. But what's not clear is why the IRC is still going after this blogger. Now that the news is everywhere, what good does it do to try to silence this guy? Will they sue The Sunday Times next?

Filed Under: anonymity, defamation, ireland, red cross
Companies: google, irish red cross