30,000 could face charges over Twitter

Experts said a British judge's attempts to press criminal charges against a journalist for a Twitter post could lead to charges against 30,000 other people. High Court Justice Michael Tugendhat referred an unidentified journalist to Attorney General Dominic Grieve for potential criminal prosecution after he breached a privacy injunction on Twitter by giving the name of a soccer player who has sought to quell discussion of his affair with former "Big Brother" star Imogen Thomas, The Independent reported Monday. Experts said the case could lead to charges against 30,000 other Twitter users who posted the same information. However, a source close to the attorney general's office said Grieve is unlikely to involve himself in the controversy. "Frankly this is not something we want anything to do with," the source said. "At the moment we have not seen any request to consider criminal contempt proceedings but I imagine if we do they will get pretty short shrift."