Therein lies the attraction, and the danger of the internet, as a junior doctor at Raigmore Hospital is finding out to his cost. The young man, a surgical specialist registrar, used a medical networking site to make inflammatory comments about Professor Dame Carol Black, chairwoman of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges. Many people may share similar caustic views of their bosses over a pint in the pub without any fear that they will rebound on them. No doubt this young man felt he was doing the same in his virtual world.

But unfortunately for him someone was looking over his shoulder. Professor Elisabeth Paice, another senior figure in the medical establishment, spotted the posting, reported it, and NHS Highland was prevailed upon to suspend the doctor.

As a result, the career of a talented individual who has spent years in training looks to be in tatters because of one silly, indiscreet and immature episode. NHS Highland stresses it has no concerns about his work and Professor Black, who is based in London, has no reason ever to have any personal contact with him. Raigmore Hospital and its patients have lost the services of a skilled doctor who may have decided to stay in Inverness after his training and build his future here. So locally no-one wins.

Even looking at the national picture, it is difficult to see who gains from the decision to halt this man's career in its tracks. The case has become a cause celebre amongst junior doctors nationwide, with far worse descriptions of Professor Black now appearing on message boards which she has no hope of controlling. As a result the Academy is being made to look over sensitive and foolish for thinking it can possibly stifle web debate.

Of course it should never have got to this point. The doctor ought simply to have been taken to one side, told to apologise and advised that publicly criticising such an influential figure is not the way to a dazzling career in medicine. That may be more difficult now that both sides are so entrenched, but it remains the only way that the Academy can extricate itself from this mess of its own making.

The affair also raises wider questions about the nature of the web. While newspapers have layers of checks to try and ensure nothing libellous appears in their pages, there are few, if any such safeguards on many internet sites. Some message boards ask users to inform webmasters of any inappropriate comments but policing of such an unregulated medium is difficult.

Libel lawyers are increasingly turning their attention to the content of sites operated by large groups and organisations which have sufficient resources to make a legal action against them worthwhile. The BBC's Five Live message board service has already been targeted, with Sheffield Wednesday Football Club chairman David Allen asking the High Court to order that the Corporation disclose the names and addresses of two individuals who posted allegedly defamatory statements under pseudonyms.

But sites set up by individuals who may not even be based in this country are far more difficult to keep in check, and for the most part bodies such as the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges are best advised to rise above the tittle tattle contained on them. Just like any other form of gossip, the more you try and stop it the worse it tends to become.

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