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Court decides to guard blogger’s anonymity

The Federal Court has upheld the protection of an information source in a landmark ruling for internet news portals.

It rejected an appeal by the prosecution for the identity of a user who had contributed to a feedback blog to be made public, according to a statement by the court on Wednesday.

The case involves the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation’s (SBC) main television channel which refused to disclose the IP address of a user who had allegedly made a slanderous remark about a third person over the internet back in 2009.

SBC – the parent company of swissinfo.ch – refused to reveal details of the user’s comment saying it is committed to protecting its sources of information.

The public prosecutor argued there were no grounds to protect the IP address and took the case to the country’s highest court.

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SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR