Judge orders identities of commenters(bloggers) be revealed

[RamboLiberal]

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Anonymous bloggers beware. You may not be as anonymous as you think.

Forward Township Supervisor Thomas DeRosa has won a court victory in the action that he filed in November to uncover the identities of people who posted comments on an online bulletin board that he said defamed him.

On Wednesday, the ACLU, which had intervened in the case, turned over the Internet Protocol addresses of six individuals who made specific posts that Mr. DeRosa mentioned in his court filings.

That action follows an announcement Tuesday night by West Mifflin Area school director Albert Graham, who vowed to take legal action to obtain the names of individuals who he said had posted threats against his life on the West Mifflin page of the discussion board Topix.com.




Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10224/1079435-96.stm

[bbernardini]

1. Ah, good old Topix.

Topix discussion boards often make Freepers look like Einsteins or Hawkings in comparison.

[w4rma]

2. You can't expect to remain anonymous if you post threats to people's lives. (nt)

[brendan120678]

3. Exactly. That's why a good rule of thumb...

is to not post a threat to a person's life!
Seems almost too obvious, in my opinion.

[RamboLiberal]

5. True - but I'm more concerned about the defamation aspect

especially in light of the suing by the scumsuckers like Righthaven. What if what we post against the likes of this lawyer he decides is defaming him, or threatening, etc? Bears watching. In PA the Repub running for governor Tom Corbett tried to go after 2 bloggers & get the names when they were critical of his political prosecutions.


Corbett, the GOP nominee, used a grand jury subpoena in an attempt to learn the identities of two anonymous bloggers who have been among his harshest critics on the Internet. This stunt smacks of an abuse of a prosecutor's powers for political gain.

The subpoena sought information from Twitter Inc., based in San Francisco, for the identities of a blogger who posts commentary about Corbett on a blog named "CasablancaPA," and another blogger called "bfbarbie." They've criticized Corbett relentlessly for his handling of the so-called "Bonusgate" probe, a wide-ranging corruption prosecution involving multiple defendants in the state legislature.



Read more: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20100525_Editorial__Corbett_all_atwitter.html#ixzz0wPaIQmIz

[w4rma]

7. Those aren't threats and therefore, noone should be forced to give up any information.

The politician should quit trying to go after the messengers.

[Donnachaidh]

8. thank you -- my thoughts too.

There's a BIG difference between posting anonymously that so and so was a diaper-sniffing doodyhead, or threatening the life of so and so.

[boycottfaux]

4. I see no problem Outing Keyboard Commandos

I would take legal action also.  Why post anonomously?  Only a
coward would threaten someone hiding behind a keyboard . .

[liberalhistorian]

9. There are, unfortunately, a lot of cowards and keyboard

commandos hiding behind the skirts of the internet. There's a huge difference between simply posting your opinion and posting threats against someone's life or things against them that you know are wrong. When they start coming after people who are simply posting their opinion, with no defamation or threats involved, then I will start to worry.

[SLCLiberal]

10. Oooopsie

No sympathy here. Sorry loser trolls and other internet freaks with no life.

[Tunkamerica]

11. Boycottfaux, is that French?

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. I would think if you don't threaten anyone you can remain anonymous

Misleading title.

[Bragi]

12. Political free speech may require anonymity

Just google "anonymous free political speech" and read up. Free speech and anonymous speech are very closely related.

- B

[jaybeat]

13. Exactly. Want to express your opinion?

Without putting your job, home, children or personal safety at risk? Depending on whom you might offend (or expose), any or all of these could be on the line if you use your real name. SLAP suits are bad enough (when a well-heeled group or company, often developers, sues an individual activist or group to make them STFU). This puts free speech on a total deep-freeze. As does libel-tourism; fortunately, Obama is cracking down on that. (Not that anyone outside the UK--one of the top libel tourist destinations--noticed.) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10940211

[musiclawyer]

14. If you defame anonymously

, not talking about public criticism, but real defeamation, it had better be against a public figure. But even the then, a judge could make the ISP turn over the data. SlAP motions only work if there is no defaming. Keyboard cowards have a lot of legal protection but it's not unlimited

[Romulox]

15. Impossible to judge without knowing the nature of the statements. nt