Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/712794
TIM DIACONO FORMER Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando's legal attempts to stop Daphne Caruana Galizia from blogging about his wherea- bouts could be thwarted, as inter- net service providers are not – as he is arguing – obliged to block "menacing" content. His judicial protest could also fall foul of new EU rules on net neutrality, that specifically forbids ISPs from throttling online con- tent. However, Pullicino Orlando – currently chairperson of the Malta Council of Science and Technol- ogy – told MaltaToday that he will be holding ISPs responsible if robbers break into his home, fol- lowing a "tip-off " from Caruana Galizia's blog. "I realize that I'm a public figure and that I should be open to scru- tiny, and I would have no problem if Daphne Caruana Galizia were to make up stories about me, if she were to write that I've slept with half the women on the island for example," he said. "However, I draw the line when she writes about my whereabouts in real- time, as that could be a signal for thieves that I'm not at home. I have a right to my personal life and a right not to have criminals tipped off into robbing my fam- ily. I don't feel as though my kids should be exposed to criminality at their home, just because Daph- ne Caruana Galizia considers my going out to eat with my friends as newsworthy." Pullicino Orlando on Wednes- day filed a judicial protest against competitiveness minister Ma- nuel Mallia, the Malta Commu- nications Authority and ISPs Go, Vodafone and Melita, urging them to rein in the practice of harass- ing public figures through blogs, which he said was being "disguised as journalism". The protest invokes an obscure code of conduct for electronic provision signed by Go and Voda- fone back in 2008. His lawyers, Edward Gatt and Veronique Dalli, have zoomed into a clause which states that "content that causes annoyance, threatens harm or evil, encourages or incites crime, or leads to public disorder is con- sidered menacing in nature and is prohibited". However, MaltaToday is reliably informed that the code itself was by no means drafted to protect people from potentially harm- ful online content. Rather it was introduced to safeguard children from illegal or nuisance spam- mail and communications, such as through chatrooms. Indeed, the code itself specifi- cally states that it "covers visual and audio content… provided by [Vodafone and Go] through their communications technologies di- rectly or as a platform for content created by recognized third par- ties". "As [Vodafone and Go] cannot control unrecognized third par- ties, they are not able to guaran- tee or monitor content served by [them]." Moreover, EU member states and ISPs have since last April been legally obliged to observe net neu- trality, meaning that they cannot block online content or give pref- erence to profitable online traffic. Pullicino Orlando, a former Na- tionalist MP turned rogue, has long been a target of ridicule on Caruana Galizia's blog. According to the blogger, his judicial protest was triggered after she uploaded a Facebook photo of himself and his girlfriend and personal assistant Lara Boffa saluting at the Check- point Charlie site in Berlin. However, Pullicino Orlando was adamant that he didn't file the ju- dicial protest to safeguard his own reputation, but rather to protect his family from potential robber- ies. "I'm not so stupid as to post Fa- cebook statuses when I'm not at home real-time, but Caruana Gal- izia effectively advertises the fact that my house is empty," he told this newspaper. "She doesn't only get her information from my Face- book account; once she uploaded an article that I was at a restaurant while I was still there, and anoth- er time I was on an airplane and saw a passenger taking a photo of me [that was later uploaded onto Caruana Galizia's blog]." The science council chairman said that he is a believer in the freedom of the press, but that a line must be drawn somewhere. "If I was dining with the dicta- tor of Turkmenistan, then I would understand the news value of it, but how is in the public interest to know when I'm at a restaurant with my friends or on holiday with my children?" He warned that he will hold ISPs responsible if his house gets robbed when he's not at home, ar- guing that while they "have better things to do" than monitor Caru- ana Galizia's blog, they are now aware of the problem. "I had complained about this with the police commissioner once, and he had advised me to speak to Caruana Galizia herself about it. I tried to speak to her, but she chose to remain sensational- ist." tdiacono@mediatoday.com.mt maltatoday, SUNDAY, 17 JULY 2016 News Stumbling block looms in Pullicino Orlando's attempt to gag blogger Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando said he 'would not mind if Daphne Caruana Galizia (right) were to lie that he is sleeping with half the women in Malta', but will not let her reveal his whereabouts in real-time