back to article Nameless Right To Be Forgotten Google sueball man tries Court of Appeal – yet again

A man who has refused to identify himself to Google or the UK courts but is still trying to drag the ad tech company through a Right To Be Forgotten legal action last week had his second attempt to take it to the Court of Appeal* in London denied by a senior British judge. The man, who is only known to court staff and judges …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    Wouldn't it be funny...

    If it turns out that this guy's name really is : Abe Eecee...

    1. MiguelC Silver badge

      Re: Wouldn't it be funny...

      It might but, deep down, we all know that he's just another Anonymous British Coward

      1. Captain Scarlet Silver badge
        Devil

        Re: Wouldn't it be funny...

        I would only use the @AC for my preference of how I make my cup of tea (Tea bag in, hot water in, milk in and then squeese bag then out with the bag).

        1. Len
          Devil

          Re: Wouldn't it be funny...

          That's funny. I put the tea bag in first, then the milk. I let that sit for a while, take the tea bag out and then add the hot water.

          1. Captain Scarlet Silver badge
            Mushroom

            Re: Wouldn't it be funny...

            :O YOU MONSTER!

            1. defiler

              Re: Wouldn't it be funny...

              Teabag, water. You don't need anything else in tea.

              For the wife, milk, then teabag, then water. But she's one of those weirdos that take milk...

  2. TheProf

    squaremilenews.blogspot.com

    It's OK Google. We know where to look him up now.

    If Google do 'delete' their records of him, can I just Bing for info on him?

    1. caffeine addict

      Re: squaremilenews.blogspot.com

      You can. But the general effect will be the same, even if Bong haven't deliberately removed him from their results....

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: squaremilenews.blogspot.com

      exactly, at some point they will have to tell the court which article.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: squaremilenews.blogspot.com

      "We know where to look him up now."

      Quite. Together with the information about him seeking VC funding, it's pretty easy to zero in on him.

      Just a reminder to El Reg that "To protect ABC's identity, the court has already made an anonymity order so reports of his case cannot name him or indirectly identify him."

      / Don't end up on the naughty step

      1. gazthejourno (Written by Reg staff)

        Re: Re: squaremilenews.blogspot.com

        Suffice it to say, you won't find ABC by searching for 'venture capital' on that blog. I've tried and the results do not come up with him.

        Let there be no more guessing of his identity or of ways to work it out. Anyone doing so will have their comments deleted.

        1. pɹɐʍoɔ snoɯʎuouɐ

          Re: squaremilenews.blogspot.com

          " Let there be no more guessing of his identity or of ways to work it out. Anyone doing so will have their comments deleted."

          I suppose the downvotes are because El reg are going to censor posts, but the fact is El reg do moderate posts so are responsible for every post. Because there is a order preventing publication the naming of the person, if someone on the comments name him, El Reg are responsible.

          1. diodesign (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

            Re: "El Reg are responsible."

            We're responsible regardless of moderation - this isn't defamation, which has caveats; this is contempt of court, which does not.

            C.

    4. katrinab Silver badge

      Re: squaremilenews.blogspot.com

      Yes, and if that fails, there is Yahoo, and plenty of other search engines.

      1. Flywheel

        Re: squaremilenews.blogspot.com

        There's one in particular if you want to go way back...

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "ABC's approach has greatly upset the legal establishment"

    Because he hasn't paid hundreds of thousands of pounds to lawyers to represent him?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: "ABC's approach has greatly upset the legal establishment"

      .... and is apparently doing quite well without them, considering.

      1. LucreLout
        Happy

        Re: "ABC's approach has greatly upset the legal establishment"

        .... and is apparently doing quite well without them, considering.

        Assuming of course that he doesn't eventually lose and get gifted a truly whopping legal bill from the other side.

        If you want to get rich or stay rich, there are two types of people you need to minimise contact with - the taxman, and lawyers.

    2. myhandler

      Re: "ABC's approach has greatly upset the legal establishment"

      No - it's because he won't identify himself to the courts - that establishes unusual precedents.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: "ABC's approach has greatly upset the legal establishment"

        In the interests of the legal community, he has nobly agreed to wear a bag over his head.

  4. J27

    Yeah...

    I'm pretty sure this guy is really Lord Buckethead.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Yeah...

      That's Lord Bouquethead to you, serf.

    2. LucreLout

      Re: Yeah...

      I'm pretty sure this guy is really Lord Buckethead.

      Wasn't that GnR's Slash replacement?

  5. GBE

    A new Dickens novel?

    A man who has refused to identify himself to Google or the UK courts but is still trying to drag the ad tech company through a Right To Be Forgotten legal action...

    A man with no name, a long drawn out legal battle, a secret history of crime...

    Sounds like somebody's found a new Dickens novel to me...

    1. Joe Gurman

      Re: A new Dickens novel?

      Called himself Nemo, didn't he, in Bleak House?

    2. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

      Re: A new Dickens novel?

      Either that or Kafka.

      1. Oh Homer
        Coat

        Re: A new Dickens novel?

        Close, it's actually Keyser Söze.

    3. Mystic Megabyte

      Re: A new Dickens novel? @GBE

      Sounds like somebody's found a new Dickens novel to me...

      Bleak Expectations?

      No doubt it's Mr. Gently Benevolent!

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleak_Expectations

  6. Arthur the cat Silver badge

    Contempt of court?

    Can't the judges declare his failure to identify himself to the court as ordered is contemptuous and jail him until he purges his contempt?

    1. Saruman the White Silver badge

      Re: Contempt of court?

      They probably could, but it might well be more satisfying to simply kick this current case into the long grass, and make a court order stating that he cannot make another attempt without identifying himself.

      Judges are human too, they might as well get some satisfaction from their job!

      1. LucreLout

        Re: Contempt of court?

        Judges are human too, they might as well get some satisfaction from their job!

        They could, you know, always try and do it properly instead of being quite so soft on recidivist offenders. Crazy talk for sure, but professions are often held to the respect the people working within them are due, which is why nobody likes lawyers.

  7. onefang

    "The Register has found that normally helpful and talkative official sources simply ignore routine requests for information about this particular case,"

    Sorry, you want info about a case concerning who exactly?

    Might end up being a curious form of Streisand Effect, so much noise being made about this that someone's gonna figure out who this person is by putting the clues together, then publish the details.

    1. Alan Brown Silver badge

      " someone's gonna figure out who this person is by putting the clues together, then publish the details."

      If they do, then they'd better not do so in the UK or set foot in the country afterwards.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        "If they do, then they'd better not do so in the UK or set foot in the country afterwards."

        I remember the famous case of Colonel B, who could not be named in the British press. A newsagent in Hampstead obviously put in a bulk order for the Herald Tribune and displayed it prominently for those who wished to find out who he was. The HT wasn't banned for some reason.

        The obvious conclusion is that if part of the US media choose to out him, the British government and legal system won't even murmur.

        1. LucreLout

          The obvious conclusion is that if part of the US media choose to out him, the British government and legal system won't even murmur.

          Technology, distribution of data, and the world generally has moved so much faster than our legal system is capable of, partly no doubt, because they insist on having the office junior wheel boxes of paper around after them in the street. Might be quicker to send an IM/email/something chaps.

  8. Sierpinski
    Meh

    Please, oh please, let this person's last name be Streisand.

  9. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

    I used to be friends with a guy who got into a horribly involved case with a bank about a piece of land he as going to build on - and he represented himself.

    What's the saying, "a lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client".

    One of his letters to the Lord Chancellor began something like, "dear sir, you are the head of the most corrupt organisation in England..." - and then asked for a sympathetic viewing of his case. I don't think that letter went down too well, to be honest.

    1. Mystic Megabyte
      FAIL

      I represented myself once in a traffic offence case. I proved in court that I would have to have been doing 100mph to have done what I had been accused of. This was odd because the policeman in the witness box had just agreed that I had been driving at 50mph. I got banned from driving and 5 points on my licence. By happenchance I had learned that the policeman was emigrating at the end of the month so while I was still in the court I asked for an appeal. The police prosecutor had a whisper with the magistrate who then informed me that I had to fill out the papers and hand them in before I left the courthouse.

      No! No! No!

      The papers stated that they had to be submitted within 21 days.

      I waited 18 days and sent them in. I had to go to the Crown court to be told that there now was no evidence so my ban was negated. I asked for costs and was told to fuck off!

      British justice at its best /s

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    If he's an Android user

    Then Google could figure out his identity if he's carried his phone with him to all court proceedings.

    Likewise the courts could figure it out by London's ubiquitous CCTV cameras to track him to his car and/or residence.

    I would be highly amused if either or both do it, and out the lunatic.

  11. Herby

    Of course it might be interesting if.....

    He posts here as an "anonymous coward".

    I wonder if when he shows up in court, somebody just follows him out the door to where he lives, or the vehicle he drives. Sounds like a job for a bailiff or something.

    Somehow I suspect that somebody does KNOW who he is.

    You are Number 6. Who is number 1? You are[,] number 6. And so it goes.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Just out of interest

    What law is being broken by ABC refusing to identify himself when bringing a case? and should a judge be allowed to refuse to do their job if they cannot find a law to support their refusal

    You can bet that if the law against anonymity did actually exist then they would just throw the case out rather than mess the guy around.

    That they are messing him around suggests, to me, that the law is not being followed in this case, only the whim of some wig wearing prima donna

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Headmaster

      Re: Just out of interest

      You may be confusing law with process. Law only becomes relevant when someone follows a process to enforce it.

      Or something.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Just out of interest

        @"You may be confusing law with process"

        Nope, I fully understand that process is not law and therefore optional in a court of law.

        Whilst the convention may have been that anonymity is given up within a hearing, unless there is a law to support the process then it is not compulsary.

        That the case has gone as far as it has suggests that the court also know this.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Just out of interest - "only the whim of some wig wearing prima donna"

      Not met many senior lawyers, have you?

      Put it like this: first, I think the judges in the case have all been male so it's primo buffo not prima donna (it helps to know a little about opera before using technical terms); and secondly, if there is a prima donna/primo buffo in this case, it seems to be the plaintiff rather than the judge.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Just out of interest - "only the whim of some wig wearing prima donna"

        @ Voyna i Mor

        Why not look up the defintition of "Prima Donna" and try the one not relating directly to opera

        As to the plaintiff he is paying for the priviledge, as did all the other plaintiffs in the high court gagging cases.

    3. Spazturtle Silver badge

      Re: Just out of interest

      Shame nobody wants to actually answer you question.

      Is there actually a law that says you must identify yourself in order to seek justice?

      1. LucreLout

        Re: Just out of interest

        Is there actually a law that says you must identify yourself in order to seek justice?

        Surely anyone defending an action has a right to know their accuser? How could you properly prepare a defence without knowing of what you are accused and by whom?

        I hate lawyers, I really do, but in this case, it's hard to see what the legal establishment are doing wrong, rather than simply holding him in contempt - eventually you need to minimise the other guys legal costs too, if only a moral duty.

  13. Teiwaz

    comfy chair or thumbscrews

    one High Court clerk who would only identify himself as "E Phillips"* citing entirely fictional "data protection" rules while refusing to say if the case had ended or not

    Looks like anonymity and the right to forget or not be bothered to give out any info unless poked with a sharp stick has taken on the qualities of an airborne virus.

    How soon before shop assistants try to outstare you with insolent taciturn glares when you enquire about the price of a piece of merchandise?

    * "E Phillips"??? - I haven't seen 'im on telly in a while (but then I don't watch telly anymore).

    1. Hoe

      Re: comfy chair or thumbscrews

      He should lose anyway IMO, a 'spent conviction' is still an conviction, would you want a former bank robber running your bank just because he hasn't been caught for X years, I doubt it.

      It maybe legally spent but in my opinion this is valid public information and useful at that.

      I seem to remember reading that it was a previous fraud conviction but maybe wrong, if not though I can't really see how this isn't information which should remain public!

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Is being forgotten different to not being remembered in the first place?

    What's his name? I'm sure he was in court but I can't place him. Was he wearing a brown jumper?

  15. MJI Silver badge

    Hmmm

    Not looked for any particular things but that site is full of people being convicted. Some are very funny.

    Some are very horrible.

    I would recommend that ABC stops trying to get it removed as everyone will wonder if they are a drunk driver, or a play with self in court, or a prolific Sperm Donor.

    If ABC is reading, search for Streisland effect.

    1. Tigra 07
      Pint

      Re: Hmmm

      "prolific Sperm Donor"

      I believe the politically correct term is "Wanker"

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Actually

    The one I found is not ABC but someone else.

    oops

    Still reckon keeping quiet is best action.

  17. Arachnoid

    UK anonymity order

    We already know this carries little [ read zero] weight on international web sites as out UK gagged media have attested many times.

  18. Cuddles

    But how would they know?

    "ABC has refused to identify himself to Google, court staff and even judges"

    "To protect ABC's identity, the court has already made an anonymity order so reports of his case cannot name him or indirectly identify him."

    If he refuses to identify himself to the court, how would they know if anyone names him?

    1. Tigra 07
      Devil

      Re: But how would they know?

      If he refuses to name himself how do they know it's the same person? Could anyone just go to court and claim to be him and withdraw their application for an appeal?

  19. Winkypop Silver badge
    Coat

    Well, I can tell you that it's NOT me

    That narrows it down a tad.

    1. onefang
      Coat

      Re: Well, I can tell you that it's NOT me

      Not me either, but I've never been anywhere UK.

      I wonder if I ain't Spartacus will pop up to claim they ain't ABC either?

      1. Tigra 07
        Trollface

        Re: Well, I can tell you that it's NOT me

        Ruling out the two of you, and assuming you're not lying, that leaves only about 65 million people it could be resident in the UK.

        It *could* be me.

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