Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

How "free" can our data be?

• Rory Cellan-Jones
• 26 Sep 08, 19:47 GMT

Please forgive me, but I'm going to use dot.life for a bit of product placement. This week I've had the inestimable pleasure of being Eddie Mair. Okay, nobody could really fill the shoes of PM and iPM's inimitable presenter - but I've had a go at one edition of iPM while Eddie was otherwise engaged.

Amongst the subjects we cover in this week's programme is a plan by the Justice Secretary Jack Straw to put court records online. This has caused a great deal of disquiet - even anger - amongst lawyers. "What happens," they cry,"if a juror in future can simply go to courtsonline.co.uk and look up the previous convictions of the man in the dock?" Then there is the question of accuracy and understanding. If a Mr Jones is listed as having being convicted of a sex offence twenty years go, could you end up with a different Mr Jones being harassed by vigilantes?

We hear from the Law Society, the Criminal Bar Association and the Justice Minister Maria Eagle. We also get the views of Charles Arthur, who's been running the Guardian's "" campaign which seeks to persuade all sorts of public bodies to make their data available for all of us to use as we see fit.

At a time when online newspaper archives already give jurors access to a defendant's previous convictions, should we simply give up on the idea that some information should be restricted in the interests of justice? Or perhaps we need to sequester juries to keep them away from the internet as happens in the United States?

Listen in for a vigorous, though never heated debate of these issues. Oh, and there's also the story of YouTube, Cat Stevens and my dog, Cabbage. Patrick Walker from Google explains just how they tracked down my video of Cabbage frolicking to "I Love My Dog..." and why I shoud be happy that I'm now helping Cat and YouTube earn a bit of cash from adverts.

So do listen in at 1730 on Radio 4 on Saturday. Or catch the , which has a bit more, including some incoherent blatherings from the debutante presenter. Come back Eddie, this radio lark is harder than it sounds.