Britain’s High Court ordered its first injunction via Twitter on Thursday, saying the social website and micro-blogging service was the best way to reach an anonymous Tweeter who had been impersonating someone.

The order will appear for the recipient the next time he or she logs into their Twitter account.  According to Andrew Walker at Griffin Law, “Whoever they are, they will be told to stop posting, to remove previous posts and to identify themselves to the High Court via a web link form.”

UPDATE 10/4: Last night I read a great article on the dispute in Time Magazine about the dispute, which involves “Conservative blogger Donal Blaney and a Twitter imposter tweeting as @blaneysblarney,” who has allegedly been impersonating as Blaney.  The article says:

in response to a petition filed by Blaney, the English High Court sent this “direct message” to @blaneysblarney via Twitter: “You are hereby ordered by the High Court of Justice to read and comply with the following order.” This was accompanied by a link to a web page containing the command to desist from the misleading tweeting. By clicking the link, the miscreant risks revealing his or her personal IP address, but Blaney realizes his shadowy opponent might not fall into this cunning trap.

Hat tip to Jim Bolin at Charlotte Law.

Morse code has now been in use for more than 160 years. It still has practical applications in the modern world because almost anything can be used, from telegraph key to flashlight to pencil to fingertip, to tap out or flash a message. Severely disabled people even use Morse to communicate, sending out the code by eye movement or puffing and blowing.

For an excellent read on the history of the telegraph and its parallels to the internet, see The Victorian Internet by Tom Standage.

Here’s Morse’s patent, issued 168 years ago today:

New Year’s Resolution: catching up on my blogging. Along those lines, my St. Thomas colleague Fred Light brought to my attention last term to an interesting administrative order from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

The order, entitled In re: Cellular Phone and Electronic Equipment Usage in the Courthouse, addresses legitimate concerns over the presence and use of cell phones — and particularly camera phones — in the courtroom. It designates persons who can bring cell or camera phones to court but warns that “[n]o cellular phones of any kind may be used in a courtroom or jury deliberations room and no photographs of any kind may be taken in any federal courthouse facility.” Penalties for violations include 30 days in jail and/or a fine of $5000 and/or punishment for contempt of court.

Woe to the first person in a Miami courtroom whose Motorola Razr blares out Iron Butterfly’s In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida as a ringtone.

Thanks to dreamingyakker at Flickr, who licensed the photo through this Creative Commons license.