Anonymous Blogger Outed By Politician

Snoskred writes with the story of a blogger who chose to remain pseudonymous, who has been outed by an Alaskan politician in his legislative newsletter. Alaska Rep. Mike Doogan had been writing bizarre emails to people who emailed him, and the Alaskan blogger "Mudflats" was one of those who called him on it. (Mudflats first began getting noticed after blogging about Sarah Palin from a local point of view.) Doogan seems to have developed a particular itch to learn who Mudflats is, and he finally found out, though he got her last name wrong, and named her in his official newsletter. The Huffington Post is one of the many outlets writing about the affair. The blogger happens to be Democrat — as is Doogan — but that is immaterial to the question of the right to anonymity in political speech. Does an American have the right to post political opinion online anonymously? May a government official breach that anonymity absent a compelling state interest?

Comments

Re:Uhhh

[davolfman]

Actually I think that kind of behavior would get you thrown in jail many places. You'd be hard pressed to defend yourself from any number of charges it resembles, stalking, or conducting a private investigation without a license.

Re:Anonomity should not be required

[LenE]

In case you missed it, there were these "town meetings" things held by McCain during the election where nice folk(whom I would personally term rabid) were screaming things like "Kill him!" about the senator's opponent. Remember that?

Yeah, I remember that, because it supposedly happened in my home state. Unfortunately, it was a complete fabrication by the reporter who ascribed the comment to the anonymous crowd. This defaming lie was discovered a few days later and then not discussed again, because it had done its damage and was only useful as a dodge or diversion from serious questions about Obama's past affiliations and his suitability to lead the country.

I don't have any familiarity with "Mudflats" but I suspect her actions were in the same vein as the reporter who fabricated the "kill him!" story. Politics is ugly, and use of anonymity to defame should have no place.

When you have got those kinds of nutballs running around wouldn't YOU not want them to know where you live if you were writing about their precious leader? I know I would.

And it is a good thing that they didn't exist, except in the minds of the paranoid and bigoted who just know what kind of people republicans or conservatives are.

I think there should be an IMMEDIATE investigation. Not because he outed the blogger, but because i can't picture a rep doing the work required to find this out on his own, and I doubt very seriously he paid out of his own pocket to have it done. That makes it a misuse of government resources and an abuse of power. if he did abuse his power and privilege to get the identity of this blogger, then bust his ass. Because the last thing we need right now is politicians using their power to go after one of the last places we still have free speech. I agree that if he did the work himself and found out that is one thing, but how many here actually believe he did that? Nope, me neither.

I'm sure that's how Joe the Plumber feels. Wait a second, he was real, and people did abuse their power to go after him for publicly daring to ask Obama a serious and real question, using his own name! If I remember correctly, people were accusing him of using a pseudonym, because his middle name, not his first name, is Joe, and that he didn't have a plumber's license, so how could he be a plumber. Nevermind that he asked the first pertinent question that our current President had faced for at least the two weeks prior to that event. Destroy him!

Nothing to see here, move along...

-- Len

Re:Uhm...

[JustOK]

as long as they don't abuse my right to privacy.

Re:ahem

[BitZtream]

You need to read the amendments again and stop trying to warp them to what you want them to say.

The first amendment doesn't say shit about anonymous free speech. You shouldn't have brought it up in your post as you imply the constitution provides the right to anonymous free speech in the first admendment, which it does no such thing.

Dear Mr thatskinnyguy (wanna be politician),
Please do not try to use the constitution is some bullshit way here on slashdot, we'll call you on it quicker than you can moderate. We have actual politicians running the country who are feeding us enough bullshit and ignorance about the constitution. Your ignorance is unneeded and unwelcome.

Thank You.