Anonymity of Bloggers Is Clashing With the Law
Date : 17 Jul 2008 Category : Technology
NewsFactor NetworkA grand jury subpoena sent by prosecutors in New York this year sought information to help identify people blogging anonymously on a Web site about New York politics called Room 8.
The subpoena carried a warning in capital letters that disclosing its very existence "could impede the investigation being conducted and thereby interfere with law enforcement" -- implying that if the bloggers blabbed, they could be prosecuted.
"We were totally perplexed," said Ben Smith, who founded Room 8 with Gur Tsabar. (The site calls itself an "imaginary neighbor" to the press room -- Room 9 -- in the New York City Hall.) The two promptly began looking for a lawyer. "We knew enough to be scared."
This, of course, is a blogger's nightmare: enforced silence and the prospect of jail time.
The district attorney eventually withdrew the subpoena and lifted the warning after the bloggers threatened to sue. But the fact that the tactic was used at all raised alarm bells for some free speech advocates.
The demand for secrecy raised the unnerving prospect that prosecutors could quietly investigate anyone who posts comments online, while the person making those comments is unaware of and unable to respond to the risk. The tactic also robs bloggers of one of their most powerful weapons: the chance to spread the word and turn the legal attack into an online cause celebre.
Lawsuits over information posted online are usually civil, not criminal -- that is, they are filed by private citizens or companies trying to keep something off the Web. Courts have developed ways to evaluate the claims, often using tests to balance the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment protections of speech against the...