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Experts in privacy and civil rights are raising questions about a police news conference that identified 27 men caught in a Cape Breton prostitution sting, saying the move amounted to unnecessary "public shaming."

"Public shaming is not something that our justice system should promote ... (and) when you release names to try to deter others, that sounds like public shaming to me," said Abby Deshman, spokeswoman for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

"Deterrence is a feature of our criminal justice system, but we usually leave that to the sentencing process."

Last week, a provincial court judge rejected a legal challenge from one of the accused, saying police have the discretion to release personal information to the media, so long as it does not jeopardize a fair trial.

However, the lawyer for John Russell Mercer, 73, argued in court that the news conference last September was akin to "locking someone in the stocks" — a form of public humiliation that violated his client's rights under Section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

But the judge disagreed, saying the information released at the news conference was "limited to what was already accessible to the media and the public."

Deshman said that line of reasoning doesn't recognize the impact of holding a news conference to draw attention to the accused.

"It's a nuanced difference, but in practical effect it's very important to distinguish between open court proceedings and publishing something on the Internet," she said in an interview.

"Absent some risk to public safety, just putting people's names out there who haven't been convicted of any crime yet really has an enormous impact on these individual's lives and livelihood."

As well, Deshman said the damage to reputations can't be repaired if charges are later withdrawn or not guilty verdicts are recorded.

A spokesman for the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police said the organization does not comment on the operational issues of individual police services.