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New Jersey Judge Shields Anonymous Blogger
netbuzz brings us an update to a case we discussed earlier this month: "In a widely watched free-speech case, a New Jersey judge has upheld a blogger's right to criticize county officials anonymously. The contention of those officials was that the blogger is actually a former mayor/attorney being sued by the local government for malpractice. This comes less than a month after the Electronic Frontier Foundation began their legal efforts to shield the blogger, claiming that the subpoena for Google to release his identity was 'part of an unrelated and unauthorized campaign to embarrass or otherwise outmaneuver the Defendant.' Score one for the First Amendment."
I have been watching the world literally crash these days, with all the pointelss lawusits, people being sued/arrested for no reason, etc. I have just about lost hope. Finally, at least some victory! Our constitutional rights these days are so twisted that I do not see what could happen. The Internet should be a place where people can talk about themselves and how they feel about something without the fear of legal action. But they get sued and thrown in court like a common criminal for expressing their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech. Why?
I'm looking for some alien toilet to park my bricks. Who's first?
The first amendment is afaik only about saying your mind freely. Not that you may do it anonymously.
Now, in our times this is pretty much the same, but you know how technicalities are usually used to circumvent constitutional rights. I wouldn't deem it impossible that we'll soon see a movement that yes, you may say what you want, but we want to know who you are. Of course we won't limit your freedom to say what you want, and that van in front of your apartment is really just a pizza truck that has been delivering for days, the amount of speeding tickets you got recently just means that you had really bad luck getting caught and that your kids get worse marks now is just a result of them slacking.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
What is going on here? I demand an explanation! If no-one responds to this message with a satisfactory explanation for all this, I'm calling the police!
You mean you can openly disagree with politicians and not get tased? Weird.
... with all the pointelss lawusits ... The Internet should be a place where people can talk about themselves and how they feel about something without the fear of legal action.
The first amendment does not prevent lawsuits, it merely allows you to publish. You are still liable for what you publish, the laws regarding defamation, libel, slander, etc still apply. The responsibilities and liabilities that apply to paper and ink should apply to the internet as well. When there is sufficient evidence that such a crime/tort has been committed the court should require an ISP to provide information. The issue in this case is really whether such a crime/tort took place. Criticizing a government official for government actions is very different from those of a private person.
Jay: All these assholes on the Internet are calling us names because of this stupid fucking movie.
Banky: That's what the Internet is for. Slandering others anonymously. Stopping the flick isn't gonna stop that.
ZERO ZERO ONE ZERO ONE ZERO ONE ONE! Just brushing up for my next big invention: Ethernet over Voice (EoV)
Anyone know their address so I can ship them a bottle of wine to congratulate them?
noisy offshore accusations of crack ho-ing, paedophillia and beastiality.