Slashdot Mirror
Judge Rules To Reveal Anonymous Blogger's Identity Over Insults
Several readers have written to tell us of a ruling in the New York Supreme Court which will allow model Liskula Cohen to find out the identity of an anonymous blogger who posted some of her photos with captions including the words "psychotic," "skank," and "ho." The site was part of Blogger.com, and Google has already complied with a request for the author's IP address and email. "[Cohen's attorney] said that once his legal team tracks the e-mail address to a name, the next step will be to sue Cohen's detractor for defamation. He said he suspected the creator of the blog is an acquaintance of Cohen. The blog has not been operational for months. The unidentified creator of the blog was represented in court by an attorney, Anne Salisbury, who said her client voluntarily took the blog down when Cohen initiated legal action against it. ... the judge quoted a Virginia court that ruled in a similar case that nameless online taunters should be held accountable when their derision crosses a line. 'The protection of the right to communicate anonymously must be balanced against the need to assure that those persons who choose to abuse the opportunities presented by this medium can be made to answer for such transgressions.'"
This humble Anonymous Coward who has invested thousands of hours into the defamation and character assassination of a one Robert Malda of Slashdot would like to beg forgiveness from the very respectable Mr. Malda before he forces a judge to make himself turn over my IP address in order to sue me for slander and libel.
If this guy is tracked down I hope the judge tells him to use a proxy next time.
Would have been better if you posted as an AC.
Except for ending slavery, the Nazis, communism, & securing American independence, war has never solved anything.
The judge today issued a warrant for "I. C. Wiener" of 405 West 43rd Street to appear in court.
I don't always call people I don't know bad names on the internet, but when I do, I drink Dos Equis.---The most anonymous man in the world
Sent from your iPad.
This is going to be awesome if it goes to court and the court rules that she is, in fact, "a skank".
I can see the T-shirts now ...
What a cunning stunt it is indeed!
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
So all we have to do to protect this anonymous hero is prove that she is a psychotic, skanky, ho? Any volunteers who own a cam-corder??
The fact that she is attempting to sue someone because she was insulted in the Internet is plenty of proof for all three.
That's a fascinating opinion. The legal fact is, you would not be immune from prosecution.
What matters isn't whether you claim the statement is one of opinion vs. fact. What matters is whether the statement itself conveys a matter of opinion or a matter of fact.
I do believe that the vast majority of ideas you might want to express can be framed properly as an opinion, but starting your sentence with "it is my opinion" isn't enough to keep you safe.
"It is my opinion that John Smith is a terrible businessman" may be safe; "it is my opinion that John Smith loses money for all of his clients" probably isn't.
The line is blurry, of course, which means even if you're on the right side of it, you may end up in court. So perhaps instead of trying to be coy, you should just consider not slandering those you dislike. It's just another approach you might consider.
My father also helped organize the Chicago Firefighter strike of '78 ... we had hundreds of firemen in our house on any given night
Isn't that against code?
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?