Date: 2012-09-27 Abella J. | Link

Victim had unsuccessfully appealed the decision to deny her request to proceed anonymously and seek a publication ban on the fake Facebook profile because she had not demonstrated specific harm. "A.B.’s appeal to this Court is based on what she says is the failure to properly balance the competitive risks in this case: the harm inherent in revealing her identity versus the risk of harm to the open court principle in allowing her to proceed anonymously and under a publication ban.  Unless her privacy is protected, she argued, young victims of sexualized cyberbullying like her will refuse to proceed with their protective claims and will, as a result, be denied access to justice." At para 14 the Court observed "The girl’s privacy interests in this case are tied both to her age and to the nature of the victimization she seeks protection from.  It is not merely a question of her privacy, but of her privacy from the relentlessly intrusive humiliation of sexualized online bullying" and concluded that there is objectively discernible harm to her, and minimal harm to the open courts principle.