Choose your pseudonyms wisely

Posted on June 7, 2010, 8:00 am, by Craig Silverman, under Newspapers.

In articles in The Weekend Australian last week, there were references to a property developer who was operating on the Gold Coast after moving from Victoria, and who was described as “Mr A”. For legal reasons, The Weekend Australian cannot disclose Mr A’s name, however the newspaper can confirm that Mr A is not Mr Ian Anderson, who has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

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  • Steve, Sydney

    In the 1980s in Australia, the Fitzgerald inquiry into corruption in the Queensland state police also used psudonyms. For example, if this site's owner gave secret evidence, he might be identified as “Mr S”. Naturally, all the crooks involved knew exactly who was ratting on them.

    In the 90s, however, a similar inquiry into the New South Wales state police thought it through a bit more: secret witnesses were named according to where the police station concerned was and given a number, eg someone testifying about the Kings Cross police might be called KX12. Seemed to work a lot better.

  • Steve, Sydney

    In the 1980s in Australia, the Fitzgerald inquiry into corruption in the Queensland state police also used psudonyms. For example, if this site's owner gave secret evidence, he might be identified as “Mr S”. Naturally, all the crooks involved knew exactly who was ratting on them.

    In the 90s, however, a similar inquiry into the New South Wales state police thought it through a bit more: secret witnesses were named according to where the police station concerned was and given a number, eg someone testifying about the Kings Cross police might be called KX12. Seemed to work a lot better.

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