By Jon Silverman Legal affairs analyst

England footballer Ashley Cole and DJ Ian Thompson, known as Masterstepz, have received substantial libel damages from the Sun and News of the World after being wrongly linked to reports of a "gay romp".

Websites and blogs repeated the untrue claims about Ashley Cole

The Ashley Cole case has been widely discussed for its implications for both libel law and developing case law on privacy.

It is not unprecedented for a defamation action to be brought where the identity of the subject has only been hinted at.

But the internet has changed the legal landscape, giving what would previously have been dismissed as "pub gossip" a far wider currency.

Media lawyer Mark Stephens said that Cole's lawyers could now pursue those websites and blogs which repeated, and in some cases embroidered, rumours about the football star.

If they decide to do so, they may use material gathered from members of the public who were invited to respond to a website asking about the impact of the newspaper articles.

Cole's lawyers had asked the internet search engine, Google, to explain why his name had been linked to the word "gay" when typed in.

But it is though unlikely that Google could be held liable for that under the 1996 Defamation Act.

Editorial control

Lawyer Simon Gallant, of Mishcon de Reya, said: "The act makes a distinction between having editorial control and being an innocent disseminator of defamatory material.

"The only issue would be how quickly Google addressed the issue once the company had been notified."

The legal suit against the News of the World and the Sun was triple-barrelled. The newspapers were being accused of harassment, libel and breach of privacy.

Lawyers have been particularly interested in the privacy part of the claim because it follows some significant cases where those in the public eye have benefited from court judgments on the boundaries of privacy.

In February 2006, the High Court granted an injunction and damages to a Canadian folk singer, Loreena McKennit, who complained about a book disclosing details about her private life.

The significance of the judgment was that it recognised her right to privacy whether or not the claims in the book were true.

Beckham case

David and Victoria Beckham are using the same argument in a case against the News of the World over allegations that the player had an affair with Rebecca Loos.

Lawyers have called this argument "false privacy". Simon Gallant said it is an emerging area of law which will have interesting implications.

"It used to be the case that to succeed in a claim for breach of confidentiality, you had to establish that the material complained of was true," he said.

"Now, judges are deciding that you can still win without proving the truth of everything which is disclosed."

The Sun and the New of the World have accepted, in their apology, that there was no truth in rumours that Cole had taken part in a "gay sex romp".