Judge Baffled By Internet In Internet Court Case

Oh dear. Maybe there is a good reason why judges wear those silly, poofy wigs and costumes. It’s not tradition, it's because they really are hundreds of years old and exist suspended in a vacuum of time where the only ‘net’ they had to contend with belonged to fishermen.

A UK judge overseeing a case about alleged inciting of terrorism via the Internet stopped prosecutors on Wednesday to ask what a ‘Web site’ site was.

The prosecutor kindly took time out to explain ‘Web sites’ and ‘forums’ to our legal system’s equivalent of a Tree Ent.

Judge Peter Openshaw said: "The trouble is I don't understand the language. I don't really understand what a Web site is.”

While I don’t expect a judge to be an expert in all aspects of the cases they face, I think that appointing a non-surfer to a Net case is frankly, baffling.