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Model Drops Lawsuit After Outing Anonymous Blogger

JumperCable writes "The NY Daily News is reporting that model Liskula Cohen, who was suing the 'Skanks of NYC' blogger for defamation, is dropping the lawsuit now that she has outed the anonymous blogger, who is a Fashion Institute of Technology student named Rosemary Port. This brings up the question of potential abuse of the legal system to 'out' anonymous authors even if there is no intention actually to pursue a case against an anonymous individual. Also, according to the article, the outed blogger intends to sue Google for $15 million because it 'breached its fiduciary duty to protect her expectation of anonymity.' Do Web hosting services even have a fiduciary duty to protect their clients, or is this all legal bluff and bluster?" Should such anonymity-busting court rulings include a provision for penalties if the plaintiff does not follow through with legal action after outing their target?

476 comments

  1. My fiduciary duty is to point out that... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Liskula Cohen is a skank and a ho. For that matter, so is Rosemary Port.

    1. Re:My fiduciary duty is to point out that... by Thanshin · · Score: 5, Funny

      Liskula Cohen is a skank and a ho. For that matter, so is Rosemary Port.

      I hope nobody returns to slashdot after a long leave and starts by reading that post.

      If it end up having a (+5 interesting) or somesuch, the scream of pure nerdrage would tear the spacetime continuum.

    2. Re:My fiduciary duty is to point out that... by mcgrew · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Great, now you're going to sue Cowboy Neal!

    3. Re:My fiduciary duty is to point out that... by Vinegar+Joe · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Liskula Cohen is a skank and a ho. For that matter, so is Rosemary Port.

      Actually, Ms. Port would look quite fetching in a white shirt and red plaid miniskirt.

      --
      "The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
    4. Re:My fiduciary duty is to point out that... by TheDarAve · · Score: 2, Funny

      That's ok, according to M theory, it'd just destroy one copy of spacetime.

    5. Re:My fiduciary duty is to point out that... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Count down in 3...2...1...

      captcha: silence

    6. Re:My fiduciary duty is to point out that... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Liskula Cohen is a skank and a ho. For that matter, so is Rosemary Port.

      Get it right - she's now a frivolously litigious skank ho.

    7. Re:My fiduciary duty is to point out that... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      how the hell did this get +4 interesting? +4 funny is appropriate... interesting? not so much.

    8. Re:My fiduciary duty is to point out that... by fprintf · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      If meta-moderation is worth anything, the moderator(s) who participated in modding this interesting instead of funny will be corrected. Not that it matters anymore with the aggregated karma scores.

      --
      This post brought to you by your friendly neighborhood MBA.
    9. Re:My fiduciary duty is to point out that... by gellern · · Score: 1

      correction, it would be trollrage really =)

    10. Re:My fiduciary duty is to point out that... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Looking for the 15 million from Slashdot?

    11. Re:My fiduciary duty is to point out that... by AndersOSU · · Score: 1

      If nerdrage were capable of tearing the space time continuum, the universe either would have been destroyed long ago, or we'd have found a way to exploit it and be enjoying faster than light travel.

    12. Re:My fiduciary duty is to point out that... by ThatsNotPudding · · Score: 1

      skank and a ho

      This is Slashdot: working definitions of unknowns terms are a base requirement.

    13. Re:My fiduciary duty is to point out that... by sabt-pestnu · · Score: 1

      Our plans are now complete: GP modded to +5 interesting

      Spacetime continuum disruption commencing in 3... 2... 1...

    14. Re:My fiduciary duty is to point out that... by raynet · · Score: 1

      Also I wonder why people don't use pseudonyms etc registering to blogging services or any other free no creditcard required internet site. Sites only need correct information if they need to bill you and even then one should keep the info at minimum.

      --
      - Raynet --> .
    15. Re:My fiduciary duty is to point out that... by iamhassi · · Score: 2

      "Sorry bitch, but the court ruled that Google was required to hand over your information, no matter how stupid said ruling may have been. It was legally required of them, and to not comply would have put them in a lot of hot water. To fight it would have been very expensive on their dime. Why exactly should they have done so? Shut your whore mouth, Port. They complied with the law."

      Sure they complied with the law but they're google, they fight the law when it's convenient for them, and this is kinda important, wouldn't want every website just handing over your info every time a judge gets a hair up his ass and wants to shit on the constitution. The judge is the pimp and made google it's little bitch, saying "LOOK BITCH GIVE ME THE $#%@%$@ NAME!" and smacked little bitch google. Little bitch google whimpered the bloggers name without even backtalking.

      Like her lawyer said, the constitution was written with pseudonyms, and besides this woman was a public figure, she's a "model" (although she hasn't done a magazine in 15 years) for god's sake, if someone wants to call her a skank on a blog they should be allowed.

      What's next, I can't say Paris Hilton's a slut? Judge gonna lay the smackdown on /.?

      P.S. Liskula Cohen is fugly (see bottom of the page)

      --
      my karma will be here long after I'm gone
    16. Re:My fiduciary duty is to point out that... by hkmwbz · · Score: 1

      P.S. Liskula Cohen is fugly (see bottom of the page)

      Pic related.

      --
      Clever signature text goes here.
    17. Re:My fiduciary duty is to point out that... by shnull · · Score: 1

      i'd say tres sympa from the skank , but asking 15 million dollars from google for someting with no consequences seems to be a bit ott, then again, i'm just an ignorant belgian

      --
      beware he who denies you access to information for in his mind, he already deems himself to be your master (SMAC-ish)
  2. Mate :( by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What's a fiduciary?

    1. Re:Mate :( by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think it means the person who receives the douche. The fiduciary.

  3. Fiduciary duty? by Mikkeles · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Maybe, it depends on the local laws and the TOS. But they should have such. However, this release was due to a court order.

    --
    Great minds think alike; fools seldom differ.
    1. Re:Fiduciary duty? by XnavxeMiyyep · · Score: 2, Informative

      However, this release was due to a court order.

      Right. The person who should be sued here isn't Google, who had no choice, but Liskula Cohen, who forced them to release the information.

      --
      I put the 't' in electrical engineering.
    2. Re:Fiduciary duty? by dfxm · · Score: 1

      Even if it is Google's fiduciary duty, why would a breach entitle Port to $15MM?

    3. Re:Fiduciary duty? by rhsanborn · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Bingo. IANAL but I believe Google's fiduciary duty extends solely to their stockholders. So, unless Port is a Google stockholder, I suspect she doesn't have much of a case. Further, I suspect she can't show that this issue did much to the value of the company. Further, I suspect she can't show that she incurred anything near $15 million in damages as a result.

      I support the legal system allowing people to seek retribution. But I think people looking to dig out money like this she be recognized and dealt with by the courts.

    4. Re:Fiduciary duty? by Lemmy+Caution · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Liskula Cohen obtained the information by asking a court to get it, and the court forced the release. Which means the person who should be sued is... the court. Which doesn't happen.

    5. Re:Fiduciary duty? by FatherDale · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yeah, but Google has money...

    6. Re:Fiduciary duty? by Rob+the+Bold · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Liskula Cohen obtained the information by asking a court to get it, and the court forced the release. Which means the person who should be sued is... the court. Which doesn't happen.

      But one would think the "court" might want some recourse for being played like that. Or get a reputation for being credulous fools.

      --
      I am not a crackpot.
    7. Re:Fiduciary duty? by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 4, Informative

      But one would think the "court" might want some recourse for being played like that. Or get a reputation for being credulous fools.

      Which is why we have "contempt of court" proceedings, perhaps...?

      --
      Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
    8. Re:Fiduciary duty? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Maybe she would be entitled to a refund? Let's see, that would be about $0. Google should just preemptively offer her a refund of all money's paid - zero dollars - for their services...

    9. Re:Fiduciary duty? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hear, hear! Mod parent up!

    10. Re:Fiduciary duty? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      bahahah. fiduciary duty was the best argument that lawyer could come up with? absolutely no shot. seems like nied or false-light invasion of privacy had more worth, imo.

    11. Re:Fiduciary duty? by blitzkrieg3 · · Score: 0

      Bullshit.

      This is the same lame defense that the telecoms used. The court asked Google to violate their privacy policy, and Google said, "Yes sir, while you're at it would you like me to bend over?" From my reading of the story, there was absolutely no push back from Google. They totally deserve this suit.

      Google should stop logging IP addresses for its other services just like it did for search.

    12. Re:Fiduciary duty? by M.+Baranczak · · Score: 1

      I think her lawyer was a Fashion Institute of Technology alumnus.

    13. Re:Fiduciary duty? by Golddess · · Score: 5, Informative

      This is the same lame defense that the telecoms used.

      Except that it isn't.

      Google received a very open and very legal request from the courts, and Google complied with the request. The telecoms were asked under the table to comply with an illegal request, and they complied.

      Please note that I am not saying anything about whether Google should or should not have complied with the request, but the two situations are completely different, as the telecoms broke the law while Google did not.

      --
      "I'm not sure I like the fugnutish tone you used in your post!" -RogL (608926)-
    14. Re:Fiduciary duty? by RealGrouchy · · Score: 1

      Right. The person who should be sued here isn't Google, who had no choice, but Liskula Cohen, who forced them to release the information.

      Apparently, Port *is* suing Google. And from the linked article, she sounds like a spoiled little 29-year-old brat.

      - RG>

      --
      Hey pal, this isn't a pleasantforest, so don't waste my time with pleasantries!
    15. Re:Fiduciary duty? by vrmlguy · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Liskula Cohen obtained the information by asking a court to get it, and the court forced the release. Which means the person who should be sued is... the court. Which doesn't happen.

      Going forward, the courts should require that a substantial bond be posted by the plaintiff. If the case is dropped, the bond is forfeited to the defendant. And by substantial, I mean that *at a minimum* it should be 25 times the defendant's annual income so that the defendant doesn't have to worry about loss of income due to the exposure. Yes, this means that the bond would be set between the time that the defendant's identity is discovered by the court and the time it is released. This is a good thing, because it would also allow the defendant to argue for a higher bond, if they were a full-time student or something.

      --
      Nothing for 6-digit uids?
    16. Re:Fiduciary duty? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Means that a person is being held in contempt of court not the other way around. Other wise a court room would be chaos.

    17. Re:Fiduciary duty? by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 1

      Means that a person is being held in contempt of court not the other way around...

      Well, um... yeah. No idea why you'd think I mean anything other than the accepted definition of the term. (To give *the court* recourse, like the guy said.)

      --
      Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
    18. Re:Fiduciary duty? by zen-theorist · · Score: 1

      IANAL, but contempt of court typically means refusing to cooperate with court orders. Not sure how it would apply in this case.

    19. Re:Fiduciary duty? by Joe+Snipe · · Score: 1

      I think you are absolutely correct. However, in some cases I feel the "fine" should accurately reflect an amount that would inhibit the violating party from repeating the incident. A couple thousand doesn't quite cut it, you know? And a class action suit can sometimes take so long to develop the damn transgression becomes law before it gets countered.

      --
      Sometimes, life itself is sarcasm...
  4. Expectation of anonymity? by Cragen · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Sorry. "Expectation of anonymity"? Where did that come from? I don't think anyone should ever expect anonymity. In fact, I am becoming more in favor of making everyone use their real name, all the time, to lessen the ridiculous-ness, the hateful content, the juvenile, spiteful posts, that we regularly see on forums. In RL, there is no anonymity. Every action has a reaction. Maybe more people need to learn that.

    1. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Kjella · · Score: 5, Funny

      In RL, there is no anonymity

      British?

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    2. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by A.+B3ttik · · Score: 3, Interesting

      It is possible that Google guarantees Anonymity when you register for a Blog. Maybe it says something along the lines of "Your private information will not be shared?" If so, while it may be stupid for them to advertise this, they still have to uphold their end of the bargain as best they can.

    3. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by pjt33 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      "Expectation of anonymity"? Where did that come from?

      Even better, where did the idea come from that there's a "fiduciary duty" to protect anonymity? A fiduciary duty is to a shareholder, to maximise their return, or to a trustor, to correctly manage the entrusted property. Does Rosemary Port think that she gave her identity to Google to look after for her until she grew up?

    4. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by zwei2stein · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So, what is YOUR real name and address?

      --
      -- Technology for the sake of technology is as pathetic as eschewing technology because it's technology.
    5. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by TheDarAve · · Score: 1

      This is usually in the section dealing with 3rd party companies. Context, context, context...

    6. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Have you considered the expedient of ignoring posts without real names attached, rather than overhauling the treatment of anonymity and pseudoanonymity across the entire internet?

      You might find that a bit more practical.

      That aside, though, "in RL" there is often anonymity. People have been pamphleteering, often scurrilously, since the invention of the printing press. People have been writing things on walls since (approximately) the invention of walls. Heck, until comparatively recently, with the invention of modern recordkeeping and administration, anybody who went more than a few miles from where they habitually lived could claim to be just about anyone, with no way to check.

      The positive history of anonymity: whistleblowing, social support for certain stigmatized groups(alcoholics, homosexuals, low caste hindus, etc.), freedom from coercion by others in your life, and so forth; also bears mentioning.

      Sure, sometimes we have to deal with the greater internet fuckwad; but (most of the time) that isn't a big deal, and there are upsides.

    7. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      In fact, I am becoming more in favor of making everyone use their real name, all the time, to lessen the ridiculous-ness, the hateful content, the juvenile, spiteful posts, that we regularly see on forums.

      I fully agree with this! No one should ever be allowed to hide behind the veil of anonymity.

    8. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Cragen · · Score: 5, Funny

      Ha! Good point. I will be posting it, um, soon. Bah-ha-ha!

    9. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Silver+Surfer+1 · · Score: 1

      I post on several forums that use your real name and location and trust me when I say it may prevent some people from being a jerk, there are still plenty of negative, rude people and flame wars.
      Personally I don't mind and to be honest it does keep me honest, while some people do not think of the consequences of there action (facebook).

    10. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by mcgrew · · Score: 1

      In RL, there is no anonymity.

      Of course there is. You never heard of "Deep Throat?" You don't see that someone might want to do the right thing and blow the whistle on wrongdoing without having to worry about repurcussions?

      In some cases, anonymity is protected by law, e.g. tipping off the cops. And there are legitimate reasons for anonymous slashdot postings, as well.

    11. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Richard_at_work · · Score: 5, Informative

      You agree that Google may access or disclose your personal information, including the content of your communications, if Google is required to do so in order to comply with any valid legal process or governmental request (such as a search warrant, subpoena, statute or court order) or as otherwise provided in these Terms of Service and the general Google Privacy Policy.

      From the Blogger.com terms of service. Seems pretty cut and dried to me.

    12. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Virak · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yes, in the wonderful land of Real Life, everything has a reaction. Sometimes these are very negative reactions. Often this is for good reason, but sometimes it is very much not. Having a place where people can express unpopular, or even in some places of the world, illegal, opinions without fear of retribution is a very good thing and for each of these legitimate uses I think even a billion childish, racist, sexist, misanthropic trolls foaming at the mouth is a small price to pay.

    13. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by dangle · · Score: 1

      I wish people would treat each other all the time with the level of respect that most of us are capable of achieving.

      Unfortunately, people are ridiculous, juvenile, and spiteful, even though most of us aspire to suppress these urges for the good of society.

      While I agree with the spirit of making people accountable for their behavior, I also wonder if there may be some benefit from the ability to anonymously indulge undesirable urges.

      This is related to my belief that violent video games are likely a good outlet for most people who don't actually believe that killing stuff is a good solution to their problems, even though the primitive parts of their brains argue otherwise.

    14. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by pjt33 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Blogger's privacy policy points to the general Google one, which says (snipped to the relevant stuff):

      Google only shares personal information with other companies or individuals outside of Google in the following limited circumstances:

      • <snip>
      • We have a good faith belief that access, use, preservation or disclosure of such information is reasonably necessary to (a) satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or enforceable governmental request, <snip>
    15. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by hattig · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This is pretty much the only post that needs to exist on the topic of the "outed" blogger's plans to sue Google.

    16. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Tukz · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Well, he haven't tried to hide it, has he?
      He just didn't post it anywhere for everyone too see.

      The opposite to anonymous isn't necessarily posting all your personal information.
      His address isn't relevant, and as such he doesn't need to tell you.

      --
      - Don't do what I do, it's probably not healthy nor safe. -
    17. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by A.+B3ttik · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Agreed. Thank-you, GP, for the response. Mod GP up.

    18. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by AndersOSU · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Yes, but in those cases your anonymity was only protected to the extent that someone didn't track you down.

      If you're a revolutionary looking to pamphlet, for example, I imagine you'd go to pretty long lengths to ensure your printer won't turn you over to the authorities. Additionally, if your printer did turn you over, the argument, "he promised he wouldn't" doesn't wouldn't carry much weight.

      To extend the analogy, someone decided to use google as their printer, without bothering to verify that google wouldn't tell anyone her identity. In other words, you don't have a right to make anonymous public speech. You do have a right to take steps to protect your anonymity yourself - if those steps are insufficient that's your own problem.

      The right to anonymity, so far as it exists, is an extension of your right to privacy. You don't have any expectation of privacy when hanging signs on telephone poles or making posts on blogs because those are PUBLIC acts.

    19. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Thanshin · · Score: 1

      Hi, Mr.Cragen.

      Why is your (email not shown publicly)?

    20. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by damburger · · Score: 1

      Anonymity allows people to criticism those who can afford PR sharks without themselves being subject to public humiliation and character assassination. The first reaction to any attack against a public figure is counter-attack, and most people can't employ PR firms to manage this. Trolls are a nuisance. The rich and powerful being able to make any of their critics lives a living hell is tyranny.

      --
      If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
    21. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Meh...Everybody knows my name. You can just call me AC for short.

    22. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Totenglocke · · Score: 1

      In RL, there is no anonymity.

      Not true. In real life I can go up to a stranger who's shouting the praises of communism and have a discussion with him and then leave without him ever knowing my name. He may know what I look like, but there's a lot of people who fit my general description. Only with people that you personally know do you not have anynonymity in real life. It's ridiculous to make people use their real names and addresses online so that someone can see that they wrote something they didn't like and then track them down and harass them or assault them.

      The anynonimity of the internet allows people to say the things that they really think without fear of being attacked or harassed (because it's easy to block someone online or just stop going to a website).

      --
      "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." ~Thomas Jefferson
    23. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by MindKata · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "I don't think anyone should ever expect anonymity" and "British"

      With a foolish attitude like that, they should try to get a job with the British Government.

      Anonymity is almost a form of protection, however its *never* perfect protection. Anonymity is a poor man's protection in an imperfect world, but some small amount of poor protection is still better than no protection.

      Its a fact of life not everyone in the world can be trusted, so all of us choose to hide some information. Therefore any attempt by governments to imply "if you've done nothing wrong, you've got nothing to hide" (tm) is simply part of government (and business) PR manipulation tactics to fool the masses into docile acquiescence. Knowledge is power so all of us have to be careful leaking all knowledge about ourselves. Plus all governments want more power (its why each politician got into that job in the first place, they want the power to rule and control others so they can ultimately personally gain from having that power over others, and its also why they always want ever more of everyones information because it gives them ever more power. Knowledge is power).

      As for this model, she is (like many models) very evidently a HPD (Histrionic Personality Disorder), and the one thing HPDs want above almost all else is ever more attention, which is exactly what this case is giving her.

      --
      There are 10 kinds of people in the world... those who understand binary and those who don't.
    24. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by AlecC · · Score: 1

      One reasonable reason for using a nick - not anonymous, but not your proper name - is that too many people have the same name. I have the good fortune to be, thus far, net unique (there is a picture of a four-year-old boy with the same name, so in five or six years I may have competition. But I have worked in in situation where two people in a company of 100 had the same name. If you have a common name first name (John, Mohammed) and second name (Smith, Hussein), the possibilities for confusion are considerable.

      --
      Consciousness is an illusion caused by an excess of self consciousness.
    25. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by A.+B3ttik · · Score: 2, Funny

      UNLESS, of course, they changed the Terms of Service since the original incident!! The plot thickens!!

    26. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by damburger · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I concur.

      Furthermore I will add that removing the privilege of Internet anonymity would not herald a return to some non-existed golden age of respect, it would technologically disarm the citizen, the whistleblower, and the blogger whilst leaving intact the weapons of the PR guru, the astroturfer and private detective. There is an arms race between those in power who wish to control discourse and those without power who want to carry out discourse outside the reach of power. Surrendering one side would not automatically make the other side step back.

      --
      If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
    27. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Aaron, is that you? What did I say about posting on that Sloshdit site? You get down her and clean the dishes right now, young man!

    28. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by cyberjock1980 · · Score: 1

      One of the first presidents of the United States believed firmly on no anonymity when voting. This was to make it completely clear to everyone where everyone stood when they voted. Maybe someone in this forum can expand on this as I cannot remember all of the details...

    29. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by pbhj · · Score: 1

      You agree that Google may access or disclose your personal information, including the content of your communications, if Google is required to do so in order to comply with any valid legal process or governmental request (such as a search warrant, subpoena, statute or court order) or as otherwise provided in these Terms of Service and the general Google Privacy Policy.

      From the Blogger.com terms of service. Seems pretty cut and dried to me.

      Unless the legal process was in some way invalid? There's always a crack into which you can fit a few lawyers.

      Not strictly the definition of invalid but allowing a person who is not pursuing the case to access the information seems rather close to being an invalid process - why didn't the court demand the release of the information and require the plaintiff to keep it secret or risk contempt of court (which can be cause for imprisonment) pending the result of any trial? The plaintiff has screwed over the court here, not exactly unsurprising, but definitely shouldn't be allowed to happen.

      Does this mean that the plaintiff has tacitly endorsed the use of the term "skank" to describe Ms. Cohen?

      On a point of law, can they raise the same suit again? How about if Ms. Port gets t-shirts printed ...?

    30. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by plague3106 · · Score: 1

      Might want to research how this country was founded before you start believing this.

      The ridiculous, hateful, juvenile spiteful posts are all protected free speech.

      In RL, there is no anonymity.

      Sure there is. Plamplets which have no one listed as author, pseudonyms fall under anonymous as well.

      Every action has a reaction. Maybe more people need to learn that.

      That seems to be the rallying cry for people that want to censor others.

    31. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by pjt33 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      A desire not to receive spam isn't the same as an expectation of anonymity.

    32. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Richard_at_work · · Score: 5, Informative

      Pyra will also not monitor, edit, or disclose the contents of a Member's information unless required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to: (1) conform to the edicts of the law or comply with legal process served on Pyra; (2) protect and defend the rights or property of Pyra; or (3) act under exigent circumstances to protect the personal safety of BTS members or the public; (4) fix or debug problems with the Blogger software/service.

      From the Blogger.com terms of service from January 2005.

      Pyra will also not monitor, edit, or disclose the contents of a Member's information unless required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to: (1) conform to the edicts of the law or comply with legal process served on Pyra; (2) protect and defend the rights or property of Pyra; or (3) act under exigent circumstances to protect the personal safety of BTS members or the public; (4) fix or debug problems with the Blogger software/service.

      From the Blogger.com terms of service from January 2006.

      Pyra will also not monitor, edit, or disclose the contents of a Member's information unless required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to: (1) conform to the edicts of the law or comply with legal process served on Pyra; (2) protect and defend the rights or property of Pyra; or (3) act under exigent circumstances to protect the personal safety of BTS members or the public; (4) fix or debug problems with the Blogger software/service.

      From the Blogger.com terms of service from January 2007.

      You agree that Google may access or disclose your personal information, including the content of your communications, if Google is required to do so in order to comply with any valid legal process or governmental request (such as a search warrant, subpoena, statute, or court order), or as otherwise provided in these Terms of Service and the general Google Privacy Policy.

      From the Blogger.com terms of service from January 2008.

    33. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nixon and Haldeman knew who "Deep Throat" was. Their problem was that by the time they could have retaliated, they were already in "Deep $h!t" and would have made their predicament even worse had it been revealed.

    34. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by AndersOSU · · Score: 1

      Who, William Mark Felt, Sr.?

      In very, very few cases is anonymity protected. Police informants might be one of them, adoption records another. But even in the watergate issue, had Bob Woodward told the readers of WaPo deepthroat's real name, Mr Felt wouldn't have much recourse. Of Course Bob Woodward would be finished as a journalist, but legally there's not much that could be done.

      People have been trying to find out deepthroat's identity since the day the story broke - and many names had been aired as possibly being deepthroat.

    35. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Cro+Magnon · · Score: 1

      If you have a common name first name (John, Mohammed) and second name (Smith, Hussein), the possibilities for confusion are considerable.

      Only if both names are common. It probably wouldn't be that hard to pinpoint John Hussein, or Mohammed Smith.

      --
      Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
    36. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So your real and full name is Cregen? Because I don't see any other in your profile. Why don't you let us all in on what your name really is. Since you're so against people being anonymous online. By the way, don't forget to leave your address and phone number for us too. Because I'm too lazy to Google today!

      (See my point.. You wouldn't freely hand out that information online, would you? I didn't think so. And neither would most of us!)

    37. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Slightly off topic but I know a printer who prints High School exam papers, he isn't even allowed to tell people he is the one who prints them and if he did he would be sued. That's because it happened to another printer with a similar contract about 10 years back.

    38. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by libkarl2 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Google should not have complied. It should have fought back instead of folding like cheap lawn furniture. However, Google is like any other American corporation when it comes to deciding whether or not to set a very bad precedent: take the cheapest route and smoke pole like a Tijuana crack whore.

      What Liskula Cohen did was game the system for ego gratification. Pure and simple. Google could have spotted this (I'm sure they have *some* intellegent people working there). Hell in fact the Judge in this case could have spotted this and told Ms. Cohen to grow up and stop acting like a narcissistic, spoiled little eleven year old. I'm almost positive that Cohen's attorney told her that the case was terribly weak. But no. Instead, they both 'presented' like a whipped omega baboon. Pathetic.

      In the US, it is quite legal for us to call each other names and say awful things about one another. Follow any election cycle! Plenty of people snipe at political candidates from what effectively constitutes 'anonymity'. Virtually nobody tries to stop them either. Its a hot kitchen, the internet. Man/woman up or GTFO. Sounds simple and fair to me.

      Also... There's this thing called Barratry. Most of the US legal system has forgotten that it exists.

      --
      You are where you are at the time you are there.
    39. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Cassius+Corodes · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I think generally the powerful have more to gain from anonymity then the poor. If it was ever possible to air everyone's dirty laundry I think I would welcome it.

      --
      Control is an illusion, order our comforting lie. From chaos, through chaos, into chaos we fly
    40. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Unless there's a law that makes whatever is written in the ToS void.

    41. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by sjames · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Agreed, Google couldn't be expected to defy a court order to protect a user's identity.

      The question is how did the press get the information. The court may have failed to appropriately restrict the further disclosure of the information. That still isn't Google's fault of course.

    42. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by maharb · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If the government asks for it, you give it, or have it taken.

    43. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by jcr · · Score: 1

      What Liskula Cohen did was game the system for ego gratification

      Really? Looks to me like she wanted whoever was bad-mouthing her to STFU, and it looks like she got what she wanted.

      -jcr

      --
      The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
    44. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by mdwh2 · · Score: 1

      No, that's not what he said. He said:

      In fact, I am becoming more in favor of making everyone use their real name, all the time

      If you are merely going to say that people shouldn't "try to hide it", even though people can still post with pseudonyms and not post any information, then how will that stop the "ridiculous-ness, the hateful content" etc that he talked about? How will it be any different to what we have now, in fact?

    45. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Tukz · · Score: 1

      He asked for his name and address.

      So, what is YOUR real name and address?

      My reply was to that statement.

      --
      - Don't do what I do, it's probably not healthy nor safe. -
    46. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Richard_at_work · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Google should not have complied. It should have fought back instead of folding like cheap lawn furniture.

      This attitude is starting to get more prevelent, and its quite disheartening. Why should Google have to spend thousands of dollars in a legal defence of your actions? That sounds like a feeling of entitlement to me - 'protect me because I use your service!'

      Rosemary Port could have hired an attorney to make her defence to the court and made her own case to keep her identity a secret. Did she do that?

    47. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      There are quite a few positions where anonymous activity is protected, but this issue involving Google is bound to test some of the all encompassing Eulas for everything under the sun. Many reporters and authors, including but not limited to Mystery Diners, Mystery Shoppers, on and on, rely on pen names, without which their value would be severely damaged. This partially goes to freedom of the press in the US, even Benjamin Franklin relied on "Poor Richard" as his pen name to protect his life from being endangered during political unrest during the formation of the US. At least in the US, the constitution does support freedom of the press, and any ULA can certainly not take precidence against constitutional law.
      On this subject, I must be anonymous, just seems right!

      Anonymous Superhero

    48. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Sgt.+B · · Score: 1

      Cragen, Thank you. I couldn't agree more. That would force people to be responsible for their actions. I think posting real names would also fix all the crap my son gets himself into on line. He would know that he can't get away with it being 13. His age would be verifiable. Say things you can be proud of and believe to be true or don't say anything at all; especially not behind a veil of cowardliness. If you are worried about your privacy on line, stop going places on line where you need the privacy.

    49. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by mdwh2 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The obvious counter-example to your assertion is Facebook - still plenty of idiots there, using their real names.

      Even if it was true, I think privacy has more important implications (e.g., people who don't want to implicate their company, or future job interviews seeing pics of wild parties in your youth) than whining about someone being unpleasant on a forum.

      Indeed, people here usually ridicule Facebook users for posting so much information publically.

      In RL, there is no anonymity.

      People in real life can see my real name? I don't think so. The only difference is seeing my appearance. I'd also argue that privacy is more important online, because there is often a long lasting or permanent record of everything done, which can often be easily searchable. If this was the case with real life, you can bet that people would be a lot more careful about showing themselves.

      And even if it was true, there is your counter-example: last time I looked, there were still plenty of idiots there in real life.

    50. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by AndersOSU · · Score: 1

      Well he's bound by contract, not by law. Yes, you can reach an agreement where one party won't reveal the others identity, but were he to breach his contact he'd end up paying restitution to the school, not to the state, and he wouldn't end up in jail.

    51. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      John Smith

      ...

      An I even posted it Anonymously, just to how how un-anonymous anonymous can be.

    52. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      " In fact, I am becoming more in favor of making everyone use their real name, all the time, to lessen the ridiculous-ness, the hateful content, the juvenile, spiteful posts, that we regularly see on forums. In RL, there is no anonymity. Every action has a reaction. Maybe more people need to learn that." - by Cragen (697038) on Monday August 24, @08:19AM (#29171569)

      Agreed, 110% - &, Especially after one gets replies like this one (that I had here on this website, no less) -> http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1337863&cid=29087083

      (Funniest part is, he "talks real big", but, as to supplying actual PROOFS of his claims? Well - anyone can see, he "took off & ran"... typical of these TRULY "Anonymous Cowards" out there online, & even here on this website (which is a shame & pity: There is some really good 'talent' here on this particular website, imo @ least, but it gets "clouded/overshadowed" by some of the types of dolts you speak of).

      APK

      P.S.=> I'd be willing to bet that the goof from the URL above who made various threats & such directed my way there as he did, such as:

      "t it would be much more likely that I'd wind up squeezing your head hard enough to pop your skull right out through your greasy never-washed hair, and I'd even wager that your skull is thick and heavy enough that I could go bowling with it. Your beady little eyes are probably set just right to be good finger holes, too. And I'm sure your mouth looks just like a thumb hole after your life of sucking thumb sized-dicks. Like your own. And after that I could shit down the bloody stump of your neck, since that's what you seem to want to get from me. I must admit I've never understood scatological fetishists, but whatever floats your boat.... Just to make you feel even more inadequate to go along with your empty threats and irrelevant asinine ranting about raw sockets, I also scored an 800 on my Math Level II SATs. And I currently make well into 6 figures as a software consultant and mostly get to work out of my house, which until the housing bubble burst was worth well over $1 million. Now it'd probably only sell for $800K or so. To top it all off, my daughter just got her first SOL results back from her school here in VA. She'd been in private school until she got into the local gifted-student program. 594, 598, 600, 600, 600, and 600. Each test has a max of 600. Darn, she must have missed a question or two. But she's a helluva an athlete and even at just 9 years old looks to be a cinch for a swimming or basketball scholarship. All true. Relatively speaking, between you and me, well, it sucks to be you. It just warms the cockles of my heart to laugh at you and your irrelevant inability to code in Win2K. Because anybody who really wants to can get the hardware needed to send just about any bits you want to over just any wire you'd like, making your "raw socket rant" sound like something coming out of some LSD-inspired UFO fantasy. Dumbass. And not just any dumbass. One dumb enough to advertise." - by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 16, @07:49PM (#29087083)

      LMAO, yea... right! Like I said there? BRING IT... we'll see "what's-what", then... anytime: Fact is, I'd STRONGLY WAGER that he is actually the one w/ the "stringy hair" & what-not, & probably only weighs 125 lbs. soaking wet... I've seen that before, years prior in fact, on forums... &, with a guy named "Capt. Kickass" over @ 3dFiles.com years ago (before ZDNet bought them out & destroyed them)...

      Capt. Kickass' real name is Bill, by the by, & he is from Rochester N.Y. - At 3dFiles years ago, when someone "set him off"? Well - He threatened physicality w/ us, & then, lol, HE told us he was, verbatim "6' 1" & 230lbs." & when we all met @ a LAN Party that site held in a mall back in 1998-1999?

      LMAO - Well, He was only, MAYBE, 5' 7"

    53. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by GooberToo · · Score: 1

      Sorry. "Expectation of anonymity"? Where did that come from? I don't think anyone should ever expect anonymity.

      Then companies should never allow the use of anything other than people's real names. By allowing the use of an alias people have the legitimate expectation of aninimity. Aninimity is also considered an important requisite for privacy and even democracy. In short, your , "I don't think...", statement flies in the face very reasonable assumption/expectations.

    54. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by mforbes · · Score: 1

      I'm in agreement about the doubtfulness of the idea of "expectation of anonymity" in this case, but not for the reasons you state. Port posted her comments in a public space. If she had simply defaced pictures of Cohen and showed them to friends in person, no harm would've been done beyond what routinely happens in any high school in the world. By posting her insulting material online for anyone to see, she put her nastiness in the public arena. Inside my house, I expect privacy. On the street, I most certainly don't. She chose to make her pettiness public, and in doing so, lost any expectation of privacy.

      NYCL, care to weigh in?

      --

      Allegedly real newspaper headline from 1998:
      Man Struck by Lightning Faces Battery Charge

    55. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by joeyblades · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Also... There's this thing called Barratry. Most of the US legal system has forgotten that it exists.

      Barratry refers to repeated harassment via the legal system. It does not apply in this case.

      The constitution protects free speech and it protects anonymity, but it does not guarantee anonymous free speech at the expense of the liberties of others.

    56. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by somersault · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Die,A.B3ttik?

      --
      which is totally what she said
    57. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by CrazedSanity · · Score: 2, Funny

      My IP address is 127.0.0.38.... wait, did you mean my REAL address? Okay, okay, its 127.0.0.1.

      --
      Sanity is like a condom: rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.
    58. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Znork · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I think generally the powerful have more to gain from anonymity then the poor.

      The rich and powerful may lose their positions, but the poor may lose their means of sustenance or face other, worse, forms of persecution.

      We might wish we had a world where nobody would have to fear persecution for their political views, their religion or their sexual preferences and one that would always remain so tolerant. But we don't. We might wish we'd have a world where all your friends, co workers and relatives would be happy to know your intimate details. But we don't. And while we might wish we could choose the beliefs and preferences of everyone we know and everyone we have to work with, the fact is, many can't.

      Some things we keep from people because those facets of ones life is none of their business. Sometimes to protect them, as not to offend them, sometimes to protect ourselves.

      If it was ever possible to air everyone's dirty laundry I think I would welcome it.

      Perhaps. A lot of deserving people would get what's coming to them. But so would a lot of undeserving ones.

      On balance I think it would harm more than help; the loss of free dialogue and speech from many who fear persecution would by far outweigh any gain of fewer hurt feelings by people who don't know how to ignore assholes.

    59. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Runaway1956 · · Score: 1

      Sarcasm on: Good idea. Ayatollah Khameini should be able to look at a post that denigrates his government, and KNOW where to send the morality storm troopers. No way should he have to waste time with an IP lookup, or any silly court orders.

      Anonymity may be abused, but it is still a necessity of life.

      --
      "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
    60. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hell in fact the Judge in this case could have spotted this and told Ms. Cohen to grow up and stop acting like a narcissistic, spoiled little eleven year old

      Interesting you should say that. Have you looked at the dictionary definition of "skank"?

      It ain't libel if it's the truth ...

    61. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In RL, there is no anonymity.

      You clearly have never taken a dump in a public restroom. Cuz I sure as hell don't know who wrote all that stuff about your sister...

    62. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Hotawa+Hawk-eye · · Score: 1

      Google says:

        Results 1 - 10 of about 3,690,000 for mohamed smith
        Results 1 - 10 of about 3,520,000 for mohammed smith

      That doesn't strike me as terribly uncommon. Now sure, a lot of those hits are going to be junk, but even if 10% of them were legitimate hits that's still over half a million hits -- and without any additional information, how are you going to determine which of those hits are relevant to _your_ Mohammed Smith?

    63. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by maxume · · Score: 1

      People have been writing on walls since before they were invented, they used the ones they found in caves.

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
    64. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by networkconsultant · · Score: 1

      AC and Jhon Doe once ganbanged Jane Doe, the corners report cited elation as her method of demise.

    65. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Lemmy+Caution · · Score: 1

      It would disarm the whistleblower *and* usher in an age of civility. Which is a trade-off some people are willing to make.

      Actually, are anonymous internet whistleblowers really effective? I can't really think of any.

    66. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Runaway1956 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Actually, she had a lawyer. Apparently, neither she nor the lawyer thought to make a motion that would protect her anonymity. Or, if they did think of it, the motion was thrown out.

      The fact of the matter is, the skanky ho shouldn't have made the blog posts if she wasn't willing to stand behind them. The skanky ho that she attacked was entirely within her rights to expose the blogger, and she was entirely within her rights to drop the case after she attained her goal.

      I'm all for anyonymity, but a moron who doesn't know how to protect their own anonymity, and expects some corporation to do so for them, is just a moronic skanky ho. Charles Darwin would have something to say on the matter, I"m sure.

      --
      "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
    67. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Reginald; I disagree! ---vroom.

    68. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by AP31R0N · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Anonymity is also a way to escape accountability for bad behavior, which is why most criminals wear gloves and masks and operate under cover of night. The opposite of this might be the military where everyone wears a name tag and is on their best behavior for the most part.

      i also think that the blogger as journalist idea needs to die a swift death. Journalists have to take ethics classes and are ACCOUNTABLE for their actions. If Dan Rather uses his powers for evil he can lose his job and be black balled out of the industry. The qualification for becoming a blogger is 'Do you has email account?'.

      1 BLOGGERS ARE NOT JOURNALISTS
      2 GOTO 1

      Run this program until we all understand it.

      This blogger is just whining about being made accountable. If this model was doing something illegal, the blogger should have called the cops. Having an email account is not a good reason for defamation. Furthermore, the model is allowed to be a skank or ho, it's none of the blogger's business. And it sure as shit NOT ok to post that on the internet. She can whisper these catty opinions to her fellow ugly girls in the hallway, but not to post this on the net. Had the NYT posted this stuff, we wouldn't be questioning the model's right to sue for defamation.

      Hiding behind anonymity is fine for a whistle blower or a state's witness of a crime. This blogger just wanted to be a bitch and hid behind anonymity like a coward. The blogger KNEW what she was doing was wrong... that's why she tried to disassociate her offense from herself. This is a clear case of internet bravado and greater internet fuckwad theory. If she didn't have the berries to say this with her real name attached, or to the model's face, she shouldn't have said it. Dan Rather wouldn't have hidden. Hell, even Perez Hilton wouldn't.

      --
      Utilizing the synergization of benchmark e-solutions to pre-workaround action items!
    69. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Rob+the+Bold · · Score: 1

      "I don't think anyone should ever expect anonymity" and "British"

      With a foolish attitude like that, they should try to get a job with the British Government.

      And so should his sisters and his cousins and his aunts,

      --
      I am not a crackpot.
    70. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by GigG · · Score: 1
      From the Google Blogger TOS...

      3. Privacy. As a condition of using the Service, you agree to the terms of the Google Privacy Policy (http://www.google.com/privacy.html), which may be updated from time to time, as expressed in the most recent version that exists at the time of your use. You agree that Google may access or disclose your personal information, including the content of your communications, if Google is required to do so in order to comply with any valid legal process or governmental request (such as a search warrant, subpoena, statute, or court order), or as otherwise provided in these Terms of Service and the general Google Privacy Policy. Personal information collected by Google may be stored and processed in the United States or any other country in which Google Inc. or its agents maintain facilities. By using the Service, you consent to any such transfer of information outside of your country.

      --
      Is buying a Harley Davidson as your first motorcycle since you were 16 at age 49 a midlife crisis issue?
    71. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by chiark · · Score: 2, Funny

      Gilbert and Sullivan references on slashdot? Whatever next!

    72. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by DragonWriter · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Google should not have complied. It should have fought back instead of folding like cheap lawn furniture.

      "Legal defense" is not among the free-of-charge services Google offers.

    73. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So, what is YOUR real name and address?

      Elwood J. Blues

      1060 W Addison St

      Chicago, IL 60613

    74. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by rho · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You can make up a Venn diagram if you want, but bloggers certainly can be journalists, and vice versa.

      "Journalist" is like "scientist". It's a method, not a certificate. A less well-defined process than science, but it's a lot like porn: you know journalism when you see it.

      --
      Potato chips are a by-yourself food.
    75. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And here's the expected Blogger.com terms of service from January 2112 or so.

    76. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by SL+Baur · · Score: 1

      "Expectation of anonymity"? Where did that come from?

      You didn't answer that, so I will - the 1st amendment to the constitution. Freedom of the press is well established even when it brings down governments. "Deep Throat" remained a protected identity until it no longer mattered.

      Even better, where did the idea come from that there's a "fiduciary duty" to protect anonymity?

      That part, I'm not sure about.

      If the "blogosphere" is really to be the "new media", it must be afforded the same protections as given to the "old media". Writing under aliases is also an honored tradition.

      We're setting very dangerous precedents. Remember the outing of "Patent Troll Tracker" (Cisco IP director Rick Frenkel)?

    77. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Have you looked at the dictionary definition of "skank"?

      Yes, it's basically doublespeak for "female who enjoys sex without it being exclusive to a male to whom she 'belongs'." Which should have absolutely no bearing on our perception of the female in question as a person.

      The closest equivalent that can be applied to a male is, "just being one of the boys (nudge nudge, wink wink)".

      BTW, I am male. And I think both these women are useless drama queens.

    78. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Yes, I believe she did.

      http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/08/19/1342248

      From the Summary:

      The unidentified creator of the blog was represented in court by an attorney, Anne Salisbury

    79. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't have to run this program more than once, it will run forever...or until I unplug my basic based computer and throw it the window in a fit due to countless hours of typing up basic and saving it to a cassette tape only to find the tape doesn't work in a week...

      fucking basic...fucking tandy...fucking cassette tapes.

    80. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sorry. "Expectation of anonymity"? Where did that come from? I don't think anyone should ever expect anonymity. In fact, I am becoming more in favor of making everyone use their real name, all the time, to lessen the ridiculous-ness, the hateful content, the juvenile, spiteful posts, that we regularly see on forums. In RL, there is no anonymity. Every action has a reaction. Maybe more people need to learn that.

      Yeah, what he said.

    81. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Binestar · · Score: 1

      Many presidents owned slaves too, does that mean we should switch back to slavery? Works great in Civilization 4, you kill some population and make a courthouse!

      --
      Do you Gentoo!?
    82. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      so the TOS actually gets better in 2008 as it removes teh good faith clause, meaning if there aint no warrant/court order/etc google won't give anything out!

    83. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by pjt33 · · Score: 2, Informative

      The first amendment doesn't protect you against companies but against the state. If her expectation of anonymity comes from the first amendment then she should be suing the state rather than Google. But anyway, that's completely off topic: my point was simply that she's spouting legal terms without knowing what they mean.

    84. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Psyborgue · · Score: 1

      How does speech take away the liberty of others? How does calling a person a "skank" somehow violate their constitutional rights? The right to not be offended does not exist.

    85. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by dgtangman · · Score: 2, Informative

      Barratry refers to repeated harassment via the legal system. It does not apply in this case.

      What Ms. Cohen might legitimately be accused of is abuse of process, which does not require repetition to be punishable.

    86. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by mcgrew · · Score: 1

      I don't know about him, but my name's mcgrew and I live here.

    87. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by jason.sweet · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Exactly how does appearing on Good Morning America constitute STFU?

    88. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, but you're just a dumb bastard.

    89. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      True. Likewise, where do people get off extending full credibility towards the anonymous? Apparently some people think the opinions of "nobodys" are important enough to feel threatened by them. My approach is that if you don't know who you're dealing with, you should take any comments with a grain of salt. (Best response is something like, "Psssh! Yeah right. Whatever! And monkeys are flying out of my butt! LOL!") Perhaps the people who feel most threatened by anonymity are those that are too far guillable and have no real clue of whom they should consider trustworty.

      But then again, sometimes the anonymous are the greatest revealers of truth. Yet that implies that people actually take a look into what is said to see if there's any validity. Still the guillable or lazy are afraid, because they probably feel others are enough akin to themselves that nobody bothers with the research.

      And why am I anonymous? I don't really care whether people take me serious or not here, so I don't feel any need to keep score. It's just fun putting my 2 cents on the table, and people can be free to take it or leave it.

    90. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by TubeSteak · · Score: 3, Informative

      Had the NYT posted this stuff, we wouldn't be questioning the model's right to sue for defamation.

      Had the NYT posted this stuff, they would have written it in such a way that claims of defamation are impossible.
      All you have to do are insert some weasel words:
      My opinion, people say, I've heard, it's been said, she's been described as, etc etc etc.
      "I think Liskula Cohen is a skank and a ho" = free speech.

      --
      [Fuck Beta]
      o0t!
    91. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Journalism is dead. Long live Journalism.

      I don't trust professional journalists. Sorry, but too many "professional" journalists skew reporting to one side or another, all in the name of "ratings" or circulation or whatever is being measured.

      From NBC's exploding trucks, to Fox, to the latest MSNBC Gun toting white racist at Obama's rally in AZ who happens to be a black guy (carefully hidden by editing), I think is all crap.

      And just remember it wasn't professional journalists that exposed Dan Rather's famous expose on Bush, it was a BLOGGER! And remember, it was National Inquirer who reported on John Edwards Affair and bastard child, when nobody else would.

      That is not to say that bloggers or alternative news sources don't have their share of problems, because they do.

      The point being, get your reporting by several independent sources, and I mean INDEPENDENT. And just because it isn't "traditional" doesn't mean it is wrong.

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    92. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Journalism has body hair?

    93. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by piojo · · Score: 1

      If it was ever possible to air everyone's dirty laundry I think I would welcome it.

      Careful with that... it wouldn't be fair unless there was also a way to publicize everyone's accomplishments, as well. Some people just live more interesting lives than others, and do more bad and good... or do more bad, and learn from it and become a better person (than a person who has never committed serious wrongdoing).

      --
      A cat can't teach a dog to bark.
    94. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by mcgrew · · Score: 1

      Yes, and he wasn't outed; he outed himself. You're right anout Woodward, as well.

    95. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by SL+Baur · · Score: 1

      my point was simply that she's spouting legal terms without knowing what they mean.

      True, but not very interesting. People have been doing that on public forums since before there was an internet.

    96. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by tsstahl · · Score: 1

      People have been writing things on walls since (approximately) the invention of walls.

      Evidence suggests people learned wall writing before wall building. :)

    97. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by GNT · · Score: 1

      Well you are just plain wrong about that. You might want to visit the extensive cites available online at places like EFF

    98. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bitches don't know about my seven proxies

    99. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by 1u3hr · · Score: 1
      I am becoming more in favor of making everyone use their real name, all the time

      says "Cragen".

      Put up (your real name) or shut up.

      I've said some things here that I wouldn't want linked to my professional or personal life. I don't feel ashamed of these, but sometimes it's nice to lash back at someone who's being a jerk without having to bite my tongue as I do in contexts when my real name is attached. And I'd have to spellcheck every post too.

    100. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by steelfood · · Score: 2

      Everybody has everything to lose without anonymity. The rich however, tend to be more noticeable before and after. The poor, well, who cares about what happens to random Joe Sixpack anyway?

      Everybody had dirty laundry. Nobody's so clean that they haven't even jaywalked. And there's plenty of "laws" that people break every day without even knowing there's even such a law. These are the ones that are leftovers from a different era, or were created just to keep lawmakers and law enforcement employed.

      --
      "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
    101. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by RangerElf · · Score: 1

      I kind of think that way also: anything which deserves to be listened to, or read and taken seriously, should have it's authors name signed.

      I know this is not a very popular opinion, but hiding yourself behind an anonymous curtain lessens the value of whatever you're expressing, since it's assumed that you don't want to sign your name on it.

    102. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by ae1294 · · Score: 1

      Gilbert and Sullivan references on slashdot? Whatever next!

      Ah bloody hell pip... give em a rest alreayy. Me mash hurts..

    103. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Jason+Earl · · Score: 1

      If you want to express unpopular (or even illegal) opinions without fear of retribution then I would suggest doing so in PRIVATE. They Internet is not private, and in most cases it isn't anonymous either.

      Sure, there are places on the Internet that are close enough to being truly anonymous that you are probably safe. On the other hand, most of these places are obscure enough that they are basically private as well. Feel free to spew your crap there, as the rest of us aren't likely to ever encounter your vitriol.

    104. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by v8s4ever · · Score: 1

      Hear, hear! I agree wholeheartedly. If you're going to say something, you shouldn't be ashamed of standing up for it (except in the case of a whistleblower situation).

    105. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I fully agree with this! No one should ever be allowed to hide behind the veil of anonymity.

      I urge you to actually think before you form such broad opinions. I'll say no more.

    106. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by MasterOfMagic · · Score: 1

      In RL, there is no anonymity.

      You must be kidding me or still be in college.

      There is plenty of anonymity in real life. You can publish anonymous pamphlets and you can stand up in public and speak without dropping your docs.

      The loss of anonymity in those cases occurs only when you don't go to lengths to protect yourself. If your picture is plastered all over your Facebook page and you appear in public, someone somewhere is going to put the two together, but if you have a low-profile presence online, it's practical to maintain that anonymity offline.

      Unless you're dealing with the government, in which case you're screwed.

      In fact, I am becoming more in favor of making everyone use their real name, all the time, to lessen the ridiculous-ness, the hateful content, the juvenile, spiteful posts, that we regularly see on forums.

      You first. Papers, citizen! Stop hiding behind your nick!

    107. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Really? Looks to me like she wanted whoever was bad-mouthing her to STFU, and it looks like she got what she wanted.

      Well, I am pretty sure that Liskula Cohen is indeed a "whore", who does in fact, takes it up the "ass" for only a "buck fifty" and according to "my" sources also starred in the remake of "two girls, one cup" due out next year. She is also reported to have the worst case of crabs ever reported as well as several, yet to be identified, venereal diseases.

      ae1294,
      uhhh I mean Anonymous....

    108. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >>If it was ever possible to air everyone's dirty laundry I think I would welcome it.

      >Perhaps. A lot of deserving people would get what's coming to them. But so would a lot of undeserving ones.

      See, I disagree. I lot of the stuff that the undeserving people would get in trouble for is the sort of stuff that MANY MANY people claim to be offended/hurt by but secretly do anyway. Think about all the good Christians out there who are shocked and apalled at all the pre-marital sex and adultery... and then look at the ostensible religion of many of the people HAVING pre-marital sex and adultery. If EVERYONE'S dirty laundry were aired, I firmly believe that people would have to abandon their hypocrisy. It's like masturbation. Everyone does it, but most people pretend it's a horribly obscene thing that they would never do and mustn't be discussed.

    109. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Dragonslicer · · Score: 3, Informative

      All you have to do are insert some weasel words

      Can we please stop repeating this? Adding "I think" to a statement of fact does not magically change the nature of the statement. Saying "I think Mr. Smith sells cocaine to school children" does not make you any less liable to a defamation lawsuit than saying "Mr. Smith sells cocaine to school children."

    110. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by CorporateSuit · · Score: 1

      Charles Darwin would have something to say on the matter, I"m sure.

      I doubt it. Considering that being a skanky ho increases the chances for this girl to pass on her genes more than for you, a security-minded individual who knows how to protect his identify... your final sentences seems to be a bit of literary irony -- or you were trying to disprove the common model of evolution.

      --
      I am the richest astronaut ever to win the superbowl.
    111. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Dragonslicer · · Score: 1

      However, Google is like any other American corporation when it comes to deciding whether or not to set a very bad precedent

      The very bad precedent of complying with a valid court order? I think the precedent of complying with court orders was set a long time ago.

    112. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by anyGould · · Score: 1

      EA Spouse?

    113. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by moeinvt · · Score: 2, Insightful

      " . . .i also think that the blogger as journalist idea needs to die a swift death. Journalists have to take ethics classes and are ACCOUNTABLE for their actions."

      Oh really? I think the mainstream media needs to die a slow painful death. How many times have the so called "journalists" and "reporters" in the MSM gotten things absolutely and positively dead wrong? How often do they refrain from spinning the news for the benefit of themselves and their corporate masters? What stories do they choose to emphasize and what stories do they choose to ignore? What accountability do they have for any of this?

      1 MSM employees are not journalists
      2 GOTO 1

      I weigh everything with a healthy degree of skepticism, but I find bloggers and independent media sources much more credible that the corporate-owned mainstream media and their minions of trained propagandists with 3 credit hours of "ethics". Can you even IMAGINE how twisted your world view would be if you had to rely on television and major print publications for information? Thank $deity for the Internet and bloggers worldwide.

    114. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Come on, I could make a series of blog posts and say (I think) Tom Cruise is an asshole. Can he then sue me for so-much-thousand dollars? Of course not. If that would be true, places like 4chan and Encyclopedia Dramatica would never exist. Blog posts like these are harmless fun. If people are too stupid to read an anonymous post on the internet as relevant or creditable, perhaps that person should see a shrink. Same goes for the very post I am writing now: I may be trying to make a point, but you should never take me that seriously.

    115. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Draek · · Score: 1

      The rich and powerful can afford bodyguards to protect them from public lynching. The poor cannot.

      --
      No problem is insoluble in all conceivable circumstances.
    116. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by AndersOSU · · Score: 3, Informative

      while you might be right, the general idea that you can turn defaming speech into protected speech is sound.

      For example:
      A police official familiar with the case who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the department is considering filing charges against Mr. Smith for selling cocaine to school children..

    117. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Dragonslicer · · Score: 1

      Well, in the United States, truth is a valid defense against defamation, and journalists are generally less vulnerable to defamation lawsuits than average citizens. In your example, the journalist is reporting a fact that they can reasonably expect to be true. If the statement is false, the anonymous source would be the one subject to a libel suit, not the journalist who reported it. Unfortunately, journalists have been coerced by the threat of lawsuits into adding "alleged" to every sentence.

    118. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's funny that in the post George Bush administration that anyone (especially American or British) would believe that they have some form of true anonymity. Subtle changes to the American constitution have taken care of that, and the Brit's grew up with bombs going off in their backyards so anonymity was never a guaranty. It's true that the wealthy can hide behind their money for a while but the truth will come out. Not that it matters as that same wealth will make it inconsequential (although some politician going to have a bit more to jingle in their pocket). And as for being poor or young - Hey, this is your chance to try and convince the masses that you have a story to sell (there may be movie rights in it for you). Live the American dream, what's left of it.

    119. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by AndersOSU · · Score: 1

      sure, but that doesn't remove the possibility that the journalist is making the statement up completely. Especially given (very necessary) Journalism Shield laws.

      Gossip columnists in particular tend to play fast and loose with anonymous sources and ethics.

    120. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by MikeBabcock · · Score: 1

      You mean like the ballot box?

      The possibility of repercussions leads directly to the desire for anonymity when speaking one's mind in many situations.

      --
      - Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
    121. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by thetoadwarrior · · Score: 1

      Get off the internet, gramps.

    122. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by MikeBabcock · · Score: 1

      I don't have a problem with your basic points except that you skip one ... does the skanky ho have a right to use the judicial system for the sole purpose of exposing the other skanky ho if the first skanky ho had no real desire to continue the case thereafter?

      I have a recollection that in some states this would be considered an abuse of the process at least.

      --
      - Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
    123. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by thetoadwarrior · · Score: 1

      No one reads the T&Cs so it doesn't count!

    124. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by MikeBabcock · · Score: 1

      One could anonymously "out" you as a child molester (even though you're presumably not) on blogs all over the planet and make you lose all your friends, your job, the trust of your neighbours, etc.

      I'm pretty sure you'd be questioning your belief that speech can't take away others' freedom after that experience.

      That said, I believe fairly strongly in free speech, but also in limits thereto. No, its not an absolute.

      --
      - Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
    125. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by localman · · Score: 1

      In all fairness, there are a lot of good journalists out there doing good work. It's just a shame that there are so many bad ones too. And the bad ones have learned that sensationalism is more lucrative than actual reporting, which creates an incentive for more bad journalism.

      It seems that the ethics class that they take is considered a joke, now. I don't know why that is. Ethics for doctors isn't considered a joke (though there are still some violators). And journalists indeed do hold people's lives in their hands. Though indirectly, they may in some cases influence more lives than a doctor would.

      It's just sad when a culture of low standards seeps in. Some means of revitalizing journalistic integrity would be most welcome.

    126. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Man, I'd want to know the address of your local pub. Anyone with the name zwei2stein must be good to have a few beers with.

    127. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by LanMan04 · · Score: 1

      Hear hear! I really don't want to live in the panopticon.

      --
      With the first link, the chain is forged.
    128. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

      He said he wanted real names to be used by everyone, all the time. Demanding that he disclose his info unilaterally, as you just did, completely misses the point because the reciprocity was the important part!

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    129. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But so would a lot of undeserving ones.

      Um... how?

    130. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      John Anonymous
      201 W. Somewhere St.
      Anytown Ca, 90210
      USA

    131. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not if she's so skanky she can't keep a baby daddy around! Snap!

    132. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you really think that anonymity is stupid, you have a lot of history to learn. The United States wouldn't even exist if the Founding Fathers were not able to print anti-British newspapers and pamphlets anonymously.

    133. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by jamstar7 · · Score: 1
      Yeah, that's what gets me, too. She's a model FFS. As such, she has a reasonable expectation her name and likeness will become well-known to the point where she's easily recognisable. After all, the more she's out there and liked, the more she can demand for her services and image.

      Counter suit?

      --
      Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
    134. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Runaway1956 · · Score: 1

      Seriously? I am not real sure. It seems to me, on the one hand, that if someone is abusing me, I SHOULD be able to discover who the hell they are. Often enough, merely exposing the libelous bastard amounts to embarassment, which is a sort of punishment in and of itself. Using the courts in this manner doesn't seem terribly wrong.

      But - we see how RIAA abuses the system. "We have 250 John Does using these addresses, and we want details on all of them"

      Somewhere, a line must be drawn - but where? I'm not qualified to make that call - sorry.

      --
      "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
    135. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Toonol · · Score: 1

      I don't think there's any significant difference between journalists and bloggers. You point to ETHICS CLASSES? Really? I don't think you're thinking in fundamentals.

      Bloggers write things for public consumption. Same thing as journalists. Everybody always faces consequences for all their actions. The nature of the consequence changes, depending on whether it's a paid position, free, to a wide or narrow audience, and so forth; but that's just details.

      Bloggers, journalists, and every person in the United States should enjoy the exact same right to free speech and relevant legal protection. What degree you have and who employs you should have absolutely no bearing on the matter.

    136. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Follow the money. Who is in financial control of the 'free press' these days?

      It sure as hell isn't us.

      Captcha: Hostage, just like our country right now.

    137. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by pla · · Score: 1

      In RL, there is no anonymity.

      Absolutely untrue.

      IRL, perhaps unlike online, we default to anonymous. Someone can walk up to you in public, insult you, and walk away, and unless you get lucky and someone present knows your tormentor, you can't do a damned thing about it. Someone can key your car. Flip you off at an intersection (plates make that a bit less anonymous, but only in the most extreme of circumstances would that eventually lead to you knowing the real identity of the person). Moon you. All purely anonymous.

      We even have whole classes of crimes dependent on precisely that anonymity - Mugging, pick-pockets, shell-games (and other rigged street-gambling), even many forms of "confidence" scam depend on you not really knowing the ID of the perpetrator.

      So, I would have to say exactly the opposite of your claim appears true... We do have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the real world, and if anything, going online weakens that due to the after-the-fact traceability of virtually all of our activities.

      Now, whether or not to consider all that a good reason for anonymity... Well, I've listed all negatives. How about the "right" to criticize the government, which in many political systems (or even on a local scale), a lack of anonymity makes a fatal mistake? The "right" to call a shoddily-made product exactly that, which often means getting sued into oblivion? The "right" to out a fraud, which even in the best of situations walks a thin line with "defamation". Notice I put all those rights in quotes - Because without anonymity, they don't exist.

    138. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So, what is YOUR real name and address?

      Joseph Smith
      7814 S Gibons St.
      Chicago, Ill

    139. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by gnud · · Score: 1

      But that clearly didn't happen in this case. In a case where that happened, the victim would probably seek some relief after discovering the identity of the web-thug.

    140. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by stephanruby · · Score: 1

      If she didn't have the berries to say this with her real name attached, or to the model's face, she shouldn't have said it. Dan Rather wouldn't have hidden.

      She's not hiding. She's link-baiting. Those two are not the same thing.

      She herself admits she's greatly benefited from all the attention (She's been benefiting from the Streisand effect). Before the lawsuit, she was completely unknown. Even her blog had no traffic on it. Now she's appearing on national talk shows and she's becoming a national celebrity (it probably also helps that she's pretty cute).

    141. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The only threat in that exchange was in your post:

      See subject & realize 1 thing: If I wanted any of your shit, I'd squeeze your head... "dude"

      APK

      YOU are the one making the threat to "squeeze your head".

      I'm not surprised you've been through this before.

      And I'm still laughing at how you can't get over getting bitch slapped like that.

      You're an even bigger dumbass than I thought - two weeks later, you're still advertising how big a dumbass you are.

      Not sure what point you're trying to make, but you're being one hell of an entertaining clown.

    142. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Lemmy+Caution · · Score: 1

      EA Spouse?

      That... was a good rebuttal. Thanks.

    143. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Hatta · · Score: 1

      If it was ever possible to air everyone's dirty laundry I think I would welcome it.

      If it were possible to air everyone's dirty laundry, we'd be awash in so much information no one would notice the things you most want them to.

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    144. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by claytonjr · · Score: 1
    145. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Eil · · Score: 1

      Sorry. "Expectation of anonymity"? Where did that come from?

      Absolutely correct in this case. There are currently few (if any) laws on the books that in any way help protect a user's personal information when voluntarily or involuntarily disclosed to a corporation. Thus, anyone using a commercial service (this includes Slashdot, which is owned by SourceForge, Inc.) should by default assume that the corporation behind it can and will reveal all information accumulated about them to third parties such as government agencies and other corporations. Simply because nothing actually prevents them from doing so. Sure, they might say they won't in their policies and so forth, but you can't enforce a promise and corporations have been known to flat-out lie about their privacy policies anyway.

      TL;DR: If you give Google (or any other online service) your real information, expect to have it sold, licensed, or disclosed to someone eventually.

      In fact, I am becoming more in favor of making everyone use their real name, all the time, to lessen the ridiculous-ness, the hateful content, the juvenile, spiteful posts, that we regularly see on forums.

      If you don't like hateful, juvenile, or spiteful content, what on earth are you doing on the Internet to begin with? (Slashdot of all places!) Did somebody not tell you that you have the option to leave whichever forums you find objectionable? You should start your own set of forums that require all members to use their real names (with some form of ID verification so users can't use made-up names for anonymity or pose as someone else) and see just what kind of following you get.

      In RL, there is no anonymity.

      Sure there is. Ever been in a crowd? Walked down a street? Unless you're a celebrity or happen to run into an acquaintance, nobody knows who you are when you're out in public. Yes, a sufficiently motivated individual could find out your identity without much trouble (by pick-pocketing, mugging, arresting, or asking) but the same is basically true on the Internet because an IP can often be traced back to a particular person.

      Ever read a newspaper article where an "inside source" or a whistleblower has revealed information to the press that shed light on a government or corporate scandal? Remember Deep Throat, the informant that eventually unseated a United States President?

      Anonymity is useful and necessary both in real life as well as online. It's the only way that some people have to speak the truth without fear of reprisal or revenge. And without that, there is no true freedom of speech.

    146. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by couchslug · · Score: 1

      "Anonymity is almost a form of protection, however its *never* perfect protection."

      Anonymity is literally "security by obscurity", and we know how well reliance on that works out.

      --
      "This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
    147. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by adminma232 · · Score: 1

      I concur. Furthermore I will add that removing the privilege of Internet anonymity would not herald a return to some non-existed golden age of respect, it would technologically disarm the citizen, the whistleblower, and the blogger whilst leaving intact the weapons of the PR guru, the astroturfer and private detective. There is an arms race between those in power who wish to control discourse and those without power who want to carry out discourse outside the reach of power. Surrendering one side would not automatically make the other side step back.

      I look forward to the day that you follow through on your high minded ideals and provide a web forum in which you will allow anyone and everyone post what ever they want (without restriction) and will virgoursly defend their anononimity from the flood of lawsuits.

      Put up or shut up.

    148. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by jcr · · Score: 1

      She's not bad-mouthing the plaintiff anymore, is she?

      -jcr

      --
      The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
    149. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In RL, there is no anonymity. Every action has a reaction. Maybe more people need to learn that.

      Like Jack, maybe?

      [and my CAPTCHA is "serially", nice]

    150. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      [quote]If it was ever possible to air everyone's dirty laundry I think I would welcome it.[/quote]

      Start with yourself. We're anxiously waiting.

    151. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by joeyblades · · Score: 1

      You might think differently if your very livelihood depended on the opinions of others. As someone who's job it is to be the opposite of a 'skank', Cohen possibly felt this derogatory claim threatened her reputation or even her earning power.

      If someone questions your skankiness in a newspaper, you generally have the power to rebut in the same forum. Not so in this case.

    152. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by libkarl2 · · Score: 1

      Thanks for the correction.

      --
      You are where you are at the time you are there.
    153. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by joeyblades · · Score: 1

      Or she might be accused of having some compassion. Remember, before she knew who it was, it could have been the guy who had been continuously harassing her. Once she found out it was some jealous nobody, maybe she decided that exposing her was punishment enough.

    154. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The constitution protects free speech and it protects anonymity, but it does not guarantee anonymous free speech at the expense of the liberties of others.

      Speech isn't free unless it is (or can be) anonymous - otherwise, it's always possible that you'll be, say, physically harmed for it.

      And what liberties of others can you infringe by exercising free speech? If you insult them, you haven't diminished them in any way.

    155. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by MrPhilby · · Score: 1

      --shakes head--

    156. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by pkz · · Score: 1

      I don't trust professional journalists. Sorry, but too many "professional" journalists skew reporting to one side or another, all in the name of "ratings" or circulation or whatever is being measured.

      All journalists skew reporting. bloggers and pros. hell even all humans skew their knowledge one way or another. whether we realize it or not. The trick is to use different biased and attempted objective sources in comparison to determine what the actual news is..

    157. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by libkarl2 · · Score: 1

      This leaves an opening for abuse. One that will no doubt be ruthlessly exploited: The 'victim' merely has to 'claim' that her reputation was threatened or in some way affected by some remark made by an anonymous detractor. Court order -> detractor outed -> retribution time. I admit, once Cohen got her name. She chose not to go further with the pettiness. Kudos to her. However, this whole affair smacks of pettiness, and self indulgence on the parts of everyone involved. Including the judge, who played the role of enabler to some random internet cat fight on the public dime. (just my opinion... but I'm sticking to it)

      Cohen possibly felt this derogatory claim threatened her reputation or even her earning power.

      I've been there too, but in my case sniveling and whining did not constitute proper evidence. The judge was not nice about it either. I quietly and humbly learned a valuable lesson: Be able to show actual, compelling evidence or STFU. Cohen's snivelling was delivered by better attorneys and thus actionable. She bent the court AND Google to her will (practically on a whim, hooray for money). Worse things are said about better people everyday, but somehow this instance was special? I call bullshit. I have to. It's the only way I can stay sane. =-P

      If someone questions your skankiness in a newspaper, you generally have the power to rebut in the same forum. Not so in this case.

      How not so? If you mean f2f? Post IMO deserved to be outed, but not with taxpayer money, and 'just because I (Cohen) can'! That is my main opinion (which is probably wrong, but I refuse to give up my sanity for the sake of "legal correctness").

      And if you ever question my skankiness, there will be hell to pay! >;-D

      --
      You are where you are at the time you are there.
    158. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by MoriaOrc · · Score: 1

      IANA.. whatever's relevant here. However, I'd think that if a journalist flat out made up defaming quotes from "Anonymous Sources" (and you could prove it), they would be liable for any libel charges relating to those quotes. Its just that (and I agree, necessary) laws protecting them and their sources make proving the quote is made up much harder.

      See: Jayson Blair

    159. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Cassius+Corodes · · Score: 1

      That's what I mean - but didn't make clear. Everything would be in the open - the good and the bad. Note that I'm not necessarily for this if it was possible to maintain anonymity - but the direction we are heading is certainty not amenable to it. If the powerful will have access to all information that we can pre-empt it in a way that at least evens the playing field.

      --
      Control is an illusion, order our comforting lie. From chaos, through chaos, into chaos we fly
    160. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Cassius+Corodes · · Score: 1

      If an entire country's police and army cannot save some dictators then I don't believe bodyguards would do much to mitigate the rage of the people should the crime warrant it.

      --
      Control is an illusion, order our comforting lie. From chaos, through chaos, into chaos we fly
    161. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by anyGould · · Score: 1

      EA Spouse?

      That... was a good rebuttal. Thanks.

      Wasn't even much of a rebuttal, to be honest - it was just the first thing that came to mind.

    162. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Cassius+Corodes · · Score: 1

      I don't think you have read the sentence you are quoting.

      --
      Control is an illusion, order our comforting lie. From chaos, through chaos, into chaos we fly
    163. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Shin-LaC · · Score: 1

      Yes, but now, if you do a Google image search for "Liskula Cohen", you can actually see her acting like a skank, right on the first page of results. I'm not sure that's an improvement for her.

    164. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Psyborgue · · Score: 1

      Can you define "skank", prove that in the context she used it is a statement of fact and prove it objectively false? If not, it's opinion. That's protected speech. Even if it was a false statement of fact, Cohen likely is a public figure (limited purpose if nothing else). She would then have to prove that Port acted with actual malice. And that's almost impossible to do unless you can prove that she at the very least doubted Cohen was a "skank" and said it anyway. Defamation is rightly a very hart tort to win in the US.

      And yeah, I have been defamed before with allegations similar to what you imply. I don't feel differently. My response was to point out the truth and show her to be a liar. Even if I wanted to sue this woman who defamed me, IRL, i'd probably be considered a limited purpose public figure and as a result there is very little chance I could win a defamation tort against the woman.

    165. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by joeyblades · · Score: 1

      I doubt very seriously that Cohen's attorney would havve focused on the "skank" charge anyway. Probably the "liar", "psychotic", and "whore" were the terms that they would have cited as libelous...

      I'm sorry for your experience. I, too, have had to deal with false allegations that very nearly cost me my career. Fortunately my accuser was not anonymous and eventually someone checked his non-facts.

      The question is not what you or I would do in this situation or even if society generally endorses this sort of behavior. The question was is it legally sound and apparently a judge felt it was.

    166. Re:Expectation of anonymity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      yeah, well what about my expectation to have all BASIC examples use VIC-BASIC poke's to generate a compliant image of the text they wish to repeat.

      in cursive.

  5. Um, what? by Timothy+Brownawell · · Score: 5, Funny

    a Fashion Institute of Technology student

    Odd name, is it associated with Apple somehow?

    1. Re:Um, what? by MartinSchou · · Score: 1

      a Fashion Institute of Technology student

      Odd name, is it associated with Apple somehow?

      Hrmm .. my first thought was that it was called "FIT" by the students, but then I decided it might have a funnier name:

      FASHion InStitute of Technology

    2. Re:Um, what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Actually, FIT is pretty well known (and well regarded) in the creative arts world - fashion design, etc. Things mostly unfamiliar with the /. crowd.

    3. Re:Um, what? by RobotRunAmok · · Score: 1

      The Fashion Institute of Technology is the Manhattan-based Acme Trade School for those people who find the Acme Trade School for plumbers and air conditioner repairmen too "icky."

      Happy to help...

    4. Re:Um, what? by quatin · · Score: 1

      Who do you think made those white headphones? Not anyone can design such wondrous works of art. Only someone skilled in both Fashion AND Technology. I can only imagine the curriculum a student of FIT endures. Mondays, European Fashion. Tuesdays, Microwave Transistor Design.....

    5. Re:Um, what? by SL+Baur · · Score: 1

      Obviously you have never heard of the Tijuana Institute of Technology http://www.hafsamx.org/ifsa2007/index_files/Page629.htm

    6. Re:Um, what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hater!

    7. Re:Um, what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      or the
      Saint Helens Institute of Technology
      or the
      Crystal Lake Institute of Technology
      or the
      Zurich Institute of Technology

    8. Re:Um, what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I am in the Department Of Geology, Saint Helens Institute of Technology.

  6. Ladies, ladies, come on, can't we solve this in by antifoidulus · · Score: 5, Funny

    a civil manner? What ever happened to two women hashing out their differences in a wrestling ring filled with pudding instead of in the courtroom. Kids these days....

    1. Re:Ladies, ladies, come on, can't we solve this in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      a civil manner? What ever happened to two women hashing out their differences in a wrestling ring filled with pudding instead of in the courtroom. Kids these days....

      Who'd want to watch a couple o' skanky hos?

    2. Re:Ladies, ladies, come on, can't we solve this in by Comatose51 · · Score: 1

      A good old-fashion skank off!

      --
      EvilCON - Made Famous by /.
    3. Re:Ladies, ladies, come on, can't we solve this in by Bazman · · Score: 1

      That's been replaced with pages on EncyclopediaDramatica - this was front-page stuff there recently:

      http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Liskula_Cohen

      NSFW. And very skanky. And Lulzy.

  7. Luckily the person in question wasn't a minor by Shivetya · · Score: 3, Interesting

    http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_08_16-2009_08_22.shtml#1250896617

    Seen the fall out from Lori Drew case? Cause emotional distress to a minor and your violating the law. Granted the example cited on volokh is downright not nice but some of the clauses, like four and six, are so vague as to play into any prosecutor's hands.

    Lori Drew stories on /. include

    http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/07/02/2017217/Judge-Tentatively-Dismisses-Case-Against-Lori-Drew?art_pos=1

    http://news.slashdot.org/story/08/11/30/2014248/Groklaw-Summarizes-the-Lori-Drew-Verdict?art_pos=5

    --
    * Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
    1. Re:Luckily the person in question wasn't a minor by hedwards · · Score: 5, Insightful

      That's not a fair comparison at all, unless I missed the part where the plaintiff committed suicide. This sort of shoddy reasoning is exactly why things are going to hell. Additionally being anonymous is different than pretending to be a real person that isn't you and using that deception to willfully inflict harm on others.

      In fact I'm not sure that there really is anything at all in common to there besides the net and attorneys.

    2. Re:Luckily the person in question wasn't a minor by TheCarp · · Score: 5, Informative

      Maybe you should have read the links before commenting. The cited clauses (4 and 6) are:

      1. A person commits the crime of harassment if he or she: ...

      (3) Knowingly ... causes emotional distress to another person by anonymously making ... any electronic communication; or

      (4) Knowingly communicates with another person who is ... seventeen years of age or younger and in so doing and without good cause recklessly ... causes emotional distress to such other person; or ...

      (6) Without good cause engages in any other act with the purpose to ... cause emotional distress to another person, cause such person to be ... emotionally distressed, and such person's response to the act is one of a person of average sensibilities considering the age of such person.

      So, while the cases are not exactly the same, my reading of this definition of what is sufficient to claim harassment is pretty broad (as was stated) and might be said to fit. So actually, its so relevant, that I wouldn't be shocked if the original suit cited this case directly.

      -Steve

      --
      "I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
    3. Re:Luckily the person in question wasn't a minor by Hurricane78 · · Score: 1

      What is it, that makes it somehow OK to you, when the distress is *emotional* rather than physical. As we know, and is proven by studies, it's really the same thing to the brain: Real actual physical pain.

      Compare it to a punch in the face. Would you not object if a child got smacked in the face?

      See. But because it's "invisible", it's somehow "not real" and the person who complains about it is a "whiner".
      That's just as bad as a system of values, as the idea that animals have no feelings or real thoughts, or that we are somehow special and not really animals like everybody else. It's an outdated arrogant idea from the dark ages, and physically just plain wrong.

      The only problem is, that it is very hard to actually prove that the killing spree that child ends up doing a decade later, or that that person can't get any love relationship working, is because of that old "emotional distress", and what the actual damage was. But that does not make it any less real.

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
    4. Re:Luckily the person in question wasn't a minor by TheCarp · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yes, emotional pain and physical pain may be the same in the brain. I buy that one, it makes a lot of sense on a number of levels. However, does that follow that all laws that we made that involved physical harm in some way translate to emotional harm?

      I just don't think it is that cut and dry. Whether the experience in the brain is the same or not is less relevant, than the question of what you are asking to be expected of people.

      To show where I think the physical analogy breaks down, if I walk into the room with a baseball bat. I can tell pretty easily how much damage I can do to you with the bat. I can see where the empty space ends, and where your nose begins. I can choose to take a few extra steps away from you and swing my bat in peace, without worrying about smashing any part of you.

      Then if I do hit you, whether through malice or negligence, the damage is done, and can be seen, and quantified, and the time it will take to heal will be directly proportional to the harndess with which I hit you, and indirectly so with how well you treat your wound.

      Psychological pain is harder. I can swing my bat, lightly or hard. I can't really even say where you are that I might hit you, much less where I hit you. It doesn't matter how hard I swing, I can use all my might and do no damage, or merely move the wrong way, and do catastrophic damage.

      Also, a miss now, can turn into a hit later, based only on whats going on in your head. In fact, you may unproductively relive the event and pain over and over in many different ways. Amplifying the pain far beyond anything that I could have done.

      I really think this is a dangerous place to be asking the law to tread. Will we outlaw private clubs? Will we legislate the need to say hello and how are you doing with sincerity to every person we meet? Will we outlaw turning down people for dates? for sex? Perhaps cheating on your unmarried partner?

      We can outlaw the burka.
      Then require that all men and women walk around covered head to ankle to prevent offending anyone.

      I know this is ridiculous but... I just don't see how what you seem to be arguing for is really viable as a principal. It seems like it would quickly require too high a standard. A standard that would then be mostly ignored throughout society.

      It reminds me of the standards proposed by the Sexual harassment trainers. "Policy is we the incident will be judged based on what the person filing the complaint felt, and not the intention of the speaker". Nice, take a bad situation, and flip it around so its a bad situation for innocent people instead of the original victim.

      -Steve

      --
      "I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
    5. Re:Luckily the person in question wasn't a minor by hrimhari · · Score: 1

      Very good point.

      Here's what I think: emotional harassment may be more difficult to legislate upon, but I wouldn't go as far as saying that it's impossible.

      And here's a fictitious example to try to turn it into something more tangible:

      - Person A wants to pursuit Person B for emotional abuse over the statement: "f*ck you, your mother and your sister"
      - Persons K, L, M, N are willing to testify that they were in listening distance when such statement was issued, that it sounded like it was meant (not a bad joke), and that Person A seemed to be trying to discuss a valid professional subject.
      - Persons X, Y and Z are willing to testify that similar situations occurred between them and Person B.
      - Some recordings exist and can be presented to corroborate some of the testimonies.

      In your opinion, would that still be outside the scope of the law?

      --
      http://dilbert.com/2010-12-13
  8. Bluff and bluster? by Allicorn · · Score: 4, Funny

    is this all legal bluff and bluster?

    No, this is all stupid bluff and bluster.

    --
    OMG!!! Ponies!!!
  9. There should be penalties... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think that yes, there should be penalties if you use the court for your own "nefarious" purposes. You're upset enough to sue for slander/defamation, find out the name of the anonymous blogger and then suddenly drop the case? If nothing else you should have to pay all the costs involved for all parties...plus a nice fine for having wasted the court's time.

  10. Can the outed blogger sue the model? by MartinSchou · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Can the outed blogger sue the model for something along the lines of SLAPP? Well, obviously you can sue for anything, but is it likely to have the suit stand up in court?

    Depending on what she's blogged about in the past, one could argue that being forced out into the open has diminished her chances of seeking gainful employment compared to when no one could just google her name and find that Liskula Cohen is a psychotic skank ho ...

    Liskula Cohen was the blogger, right?

    1. Re:Can the outed blogger sue the model? by TheDarAve · · Score: 1

      SLAPP doesn't apply as its not really abuse of the system. If it was, the RIAA would have gotten shut down quite a few times by now. The model never performed any legal action that named the blogger directly to force the blogger into litigation just to cause the loss of money or to be annoying. Its gaming the system, but unfortunately, the model can get away with it by saying "Once I found out it was a nobody, I didn't see the point of persuing litigation."

      Google on the other hand seems like they would have a decent SLAPP case if the blogger tries to get cute.

      IANAL.

    2. Re:Can the outed blogger sue the model? by MartinSchou · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I did say along the lines of SLAPP. Not SLAPP directly.

      Like I said, depending on what she's blogged about in the past, one could argue that being forced out into the open has diminished her chances of seeking gainful employment compared to when no one could just google her name and find that Liskula Cohen is a psychotic skank ho ...

      Liskula Cohen was still the blogger, right?

      But as others have pointed out, the blogger will have no stance in court with her suit against Google, as Google is obviously required to follow a court order, not to mention that following such court orders are specifically mentioned in the terms of service for that particular service.

      But a counter suit against the model could work. Might work. I'm not a lawyer, obviously, but I would think that a good lawyer could cook up some argument that being forced out into the open has diminished her chances of seeking gainful employment compared to when no one could just google her name and find that Liskula Cohen is a psychotic skank ho ...

    3. Re:Can the outed blogger sue the model? by stuntpope · · Score: 1

      Liskula Cohen was still the blogger, right?

      No, she's the model. Says so in the first sentence of the summary. Also in the first sentence is the information that Rosemary Port is the blogger.

    4. Re:Can the outed blogger sue the model? by ProfM · · Score: 1

      Liskula Cohen was the blogger, right?

      No, actually Liskula Cohen was the model-skank-ho ...

      The blogger is Rosemary Port. I'm not sure if she is a skank-ho or not, Liskula Cohen hasn't blogged about it yet ...

    5. Re:Can the outed blogger sue the model? by Theaetetus · · Score: 1

      I did say along the lines of SLAPP. Not SLAPP directly.

      Like I said, depending on what she's blogged about in the past, one could argue that being forced out into the open has diminished her chances of seeking gainful employment compared to when no one could just google her name and find that Liskula Cohen is a psychotic skank ho ...

      Liskula Cohen was still the blogger, right?

      But as others have pointed out, the blogger will have no stance in court with her suit against Google, as Google is obviously required to follow a court order, not to mention that following such court orders are specifically mentioned in the terms of service for that particular service.

      But a counter suit against the model could work. Might work. I'm not a lawyer, obviously, but I would think that a good lawyer could cook up some argument that being forced out into the open has diminished her chances of seeking gainful employment compared to when no one could just google her name and find that Liskula Cohen is a psychotic skank ho ...

      So, you're making the argument that the woman called a skank brought a frivolous lawsuit... while simultaneously Googlebombing her name. You realize that, as she rises in the Google search results for the term 'skank', that's proof of harm and proof of the validity of the defamation lawsuit, right?

    6. Re:Can the outed blogger sue the model? by Cheviot · · Score: 1

      Wouldn't this be a pretty clear case of abuse of process?

    7. Re:Can the outed blogger sue the model? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      one could just google her name and find that Liskula Cohen is a psychotic skank ho ...

      You do realize that Google-bombing won't work here, 'no? ;)

  11. Expectation of Privacy??!? by volxdragon · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You have zero expectation of privacy when standing out in the open on a city street in the US, why would one assume you have an expectation of privacy when posting on a public forum on the Internet? I understand if you take some measure to really hide (wear a mask in public, or use something like Tor on the Internet), but even then, you could only blame the service you use to protect your privacy, not the end public bulletin (or blog) I would think...

    1. Re:Expectation of Privacy??!? by Totenglocke · · Score: 1

      Shouting in a public square may not be private, but unless people you know are in that square, it is anonymous.

      --
      "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." ~Thomas Jefferson
    2. Re:Expectation of Privacy??!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Rubbish. Of course you have an expectation of privacy when you stand out on a city street. There may be security cameras everywhere, sure. But we're not at the stage yet where there is a massive deployment of facial recognition technology connected to a publicly available database of everyone's names, addresses and occupations.

      If you shout something defamatory on a busy city street, and a seemingly ordinary person comes up to you and claims that you have somehow wronged them (despite not knowing your name or face) you are quite able to tell them to fuck off and likely never see them again.

    3. Re:Expectation of Privacy??!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You have zero expectation of privacy when standing out in the open on a city street in the US

      Papers please.

      Though I suppose it depends on what you mean by "privacy".
      This article is discussing anonymity, I can most certainly be anonymous out in public (at least until facial recognition really starts working).

      wear a mask in public

      ...just not near a bank, airport, convenience store, or government building.

    4. Re:Expectation of Privacy??!? by Dog-Cow · · Score: 1

      And if someone recognizes you and yells out your name, you have no legal recourse, no matter how good your mask might be.

      Of course, if he yells out the wrong name, there might be a law suit coming from the actual owner of the name.

    5. Re:Expectation of Privacy??!? by maxume · · Score: 1

      Exactly, people are bringing up all these situations where anonymity is conveniently available and making the mistake of assuming that the government would protect that anonymity, whereas it would actually do nothing.

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
    6. Re:Expectation of Privacy??!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You have zero expectation of privacy when standing out in the open on a city street in the US, why would one assume you have an expectation of privacy when posting on a public forum on the Internet?

      First off, the sentence before the comma splice is false. You have a reasonable expectation of privacy in that situation: somebody simply snapping a photo of you is reasonably expected and you have no protection against that, but someone following a woman around trying to get panty shots is obviously frowned upon. It's a very rare occurrence, but that just furthers the claim that a reasonable person would not expect it to happen. Hence, an expectation of privacy.
      Secondly, posting on a public forum on the Internet is more akin to hanging a pamphlet on a public bulletin board. Somebody looking at you while you are walking around on the streets of a city, if you really wish to define it in Internet Analogy Language, is more like a website recording your IP address and HTTP referrer while you're hopping from page to page. The paranoid would think "ONOZ someone is tracking me!" but just like real life people-watching, there is rarely ever personally identifying information being transmitted, and even if there was it would be lost in a sea of tracking statistics.

      I understand if you take some measure to really hide (wear a mask in public, or use something like Tor on the Internet), but even then, you could only blame the service you use to protect your privacy, not the end public bulletin (or blog) I would think...

      The problem with that reasoning is that your "mask" IS the bulletin board. If you register a nom de plumme on Blogger or some other site, or if you post as Anonymous Coward as I am doing, then the website is providing you with that mask. Most real-life bulletin boards or pen and paper do not come with a complimentary mask, so the comparison is incomplete.

      Back on topic, a court order may force a service to reveal information about a libelous blogger just as a police officer can insist that you remove your mask (upon probable cause that your mask was used in the commission of a crime). However, if the cloak of anonymity is forcibly removed as retribution (i.e., the complainant has no intention of suing for defamation but still wants this person's identity for future extralegal attacks) or without due process in the case of criminal investigations (not the issue here but still needs consideration), then breach of a reasonable attempt at privacy should be actionable. Then, the question becomes who is liable for this act. Google acted on a good-faith basis by complying with a (then assumed to be valid) court order. Therefore, the one who initiated that bad faith order should be liable. That is, the model abused the legal system to retaliate against a critic and should be held responsible for those actions. Exactly what that entails, I don't know.

    7. Re:Expectation of Privacy??!? by PitaBred · · Score: 1

      You do have a relative expectation of anonymity standing on a street in the US. Nobody (except the police) can force you to tell them your real name, even if you are yelling that "Susie Q. Public is a fucking ho!". Why is the Internet different?

    8. Re:Expectation of Privacy??!? by anyGould · · Score: 1

      wear a mask in public

      ...just not near a bank, airport, convenience store, or government building.

      ... or school, or nearly any commercial entity whatsoever. Sadly, you're filmed everywhere - the trick is that we're only now connecting the dots.

    9. Re:Expectation of Privacy??!? by Totenglocke · · Score: 1

      Yes, but that's IF someone recognizes you. If no one knows who you are, you ARE anonymous. It's no different than having anonymity online and someone browsing the forum who happens to know your screen name and being able to link you to your screen name.

      --
      "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." ~Thomas Jefferson
    10. Re:Expectation of Privacy??!? by jamstar7 · · Score: 1

      wear a mask in public

      ...just not near a bank, airport, convenience store, or government building.

      Sounds to me that Batman is shit outta luck then...

      --
      Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
  12. Anonymous trial? by TranceThrust · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Following through after 'outing' seems a non-solution; you could still start cases you know you have a small (if any) chance of winning to 'out' someone.

    My initial reaction actually was people cannot and should not expect anonymity on the internet, unless extreme measures are taken which often still do not guarantee anonymity 100%. Furthermore, it is not something people should want; if crimes are committed via internet or with assistance of it, then through proper procedures law-enforcement should be able to track culprits.

    This however was not the case here, and so far I can see the only 'solution' would be to keep the identity of the accused anonymous during the trial and make it known only after a guilty verdict. This won't work, however, since often the daily life of the accused is relevant to the court proceedings; the accusing party has a right to be able to research what more the accused has been up to.
    Perhaps an anonymous trial is only feasible for a small subset of charges. Don't see it happening though, this is probably just a necessary evil.

    On a sidenote, if the charges are too ridiculous, any court would just dismiss the charges entirely without anyone being drawn out.

    1. Re:Anonymous trial? by eln · · Score: 1

      Even if you wanted to go after the model for a frivolous lawsuit, it would be difficult to prove she had no intention of following through. It seems just as likely that she outed the person, found out the person was a penniless student with no hope of paying any judgment, and elected not to go forward based on that.

  13. Her anonymity? by Tukz · · Score: 0, Redundant

    I didn't read the article, only the summery, so I MAY have missed some points.

    She is suing google, because google revealed her identity. Google can only do this with information that is public available in the first, or from within there own services, where you agree to throwing anonymity down the drain.

    Welcome to the internet. You got no RIGHT to being anonymous.
    In fact, some people go through great length to archive pseudo-anonymity.

    Get it straight. You are NOT anonymous on the internet.
    You cannot sue a indexing site for revealing already public information. Not like Google made a banner "Look here! Anonymous' bloggers name. Click!"

    You can join a site, pay some money for being anonymous on that community, but don't think you are truly anonymous. They get your data. And stuff DOES get leaked, accidental or otherwise, some times. You can file a civil law suit against that company, for not protecting your paid for service. Though I doubt you'll win, but have fun!

    tl;dr: You're not anonymous on the internet.

    --
    - Don't do what I do, it's probably not healthy nor safe. -
  14. Most Internet anonymity is used to protect scum. by EWAdams · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You have a right to anonymity. You forfeit it the instant you use it to commit a crime or defame someone. The problem is, people have gotten so used to being able to act with impunity that the Internet has become a thoroughly nasty place (the Arpanet was never this bad), and they think it's now their God-given right to call anybody any name they like. It about damn time these jerks were outed and made to take responsibility for their actions.

    --
    I piss off bigots.
  15. its not the ideal way by circletimessquare · · Score: 3, Informative

    to protect the first amendment, but suing companies for not more zealously protecting anonymity from idiot rulings is better than no protection at all. so let this retarded catfight proceed in the only way it can:

    1. one dumb biatch gets a bucketload of cash from google
    2. the other dumb biatch gets a career boost fom the streisand effect

    as if getting on the front page of newspapers is bad for your career, no matter how lascivious. didn't paris hilton's "career" get started when video of her surfaced giving some trust fund ahole a hummer? and didja see her ass(ets)?

    http://internetdefamationblog.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/liskulacohen.jpg

    skank?

    skankalicious!

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:its not the ideal way by maxume · · Score: 1

      Google never promised to stand between the blogger and the law. Why should the blogger expect them to?

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
    2. Re:its not the ideal way by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Couldn't the two of them go back to writing their nasty notes about each other on bathroom walls, or something equally productive, rather than dragging third parties through the courts over this? This whole thing makes as much sense as suing the bar owner where the nasty bathroom note was written.

  16. Strike a blow against Gabriel's theory.. by nweaver · · Score: 0

    This is a GOOD thing: it strikes a blow against John Gabriel's Greater Theory of Internet Fuckwads.

    If you are a fuckwad online, and get outed for it, good. Perhaps this will discourage fewer anonymous fuckwads in the future.

    --
    Test your net with Netalyzr
    1. Re:Strike a blow against Gabriel's theory.. by petrus4 · · Score: 1

      This is a GOOD thing: it strikes a blow against John Gabriel's Greater Theory of Internet Fuckwads.

      If you are a fuckwad online, and get outed for it, good. Perhaps this will discourage fewer anonymous fuckwads in the future.

      Lawsuits will never happen often enough to cause people to care, though. For every one incident where this happens, there's a few million where someone gets slagged off on the World of Warcraft forums, and the perpetrator gets away with it scot free.

    2. Re:Strike a blow against Gabriel's theory.. by mcgrew · · Score: 1

      Perhaps this will discourage fewer anonymous fuckwads in the future.

      I don't know, there are an awful lot of offline fuckwads as well. I suspect that online assholes are assholes offline, too.

    3. Re:Strike a blow against Gabriel's theory.. by mforbes · · Score: 1

      Perhaps this will discourage fewer anonymous fuckwads in the future.

      I'd personally prefer it if it encouraged fewer of them, or discouraged more... whichever paradigm works for you. Discouraging fewer of them seems like a goal that's entirely too easy to meet...

      --

      Allegedly real newspaper headline from 1998:
      Man Struck by Lightning Faces Battery Charge

    4. Re:Strike a blow against Gabriel's theory.. by loutr · · Score: 1

      I suspect that online assholes are assholes offline, too.

      Offline you don't have the anonymity part of the Gabe's equation. I suspect a lot of the online assholes are nerdy teenagers who wouldn't dare crossing your stare if you met them face to face.

    5. Re:Strike a blow against Gabriel's theory.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nicholas C. Weaver is a skank.

    6. Re:Strike a blow against Gabriel's theory.. by citylivin · · Score: 1

      For the sake of argument:

      Your post has greatly offended me and I consider YOU to be a "fuckwad"! Please submit all your personal information in a reply to this post.

      One persons fuckwad is another persons herowad.. or something

      --
      As a potential lottery winner, I totally support tax cuts for the wealthy
  17. Anonymous political speech is protect by MichaelCrawford · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Ms. Port refers to the anonymous publication of The Federalist Papers. She actually does have a point there. A few years back there was a lawsuit over anonymously published political tracts. Federal campaign finance law required that the funding source for those pamphlets be publicly stated, and it wasn't. If I remember correctly, the Supreme Court upheld the right of the publisher to speak anonymously.

    HOWEVER...

    If she really does go through with the lawsuit, contract law will be the deciding factor here, specifically whether Google's Terms of Service promised any kind of anonymity. I expect it doesn't.

    Let this be a lesson to all the bloggers out there, to post using TOR.

    --
    Request your free CD of my piano music.
    1. Re:Anonymous political speech is protect by dfxm · · Score: 1

      Let this be a lesson to all the bloggers out there, to post using TOR.

      I think the real lesson here is to sign up your Google Account with a fake name.

    2. Re:Anonymous political speech is protect by stuntpope · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Considering that Google revealed Ms Port's identity in response to a court order, and Google's TOS have clear language about this type of situation, I think all the talk about suing Google is moot.

    3. Re:Anonymous political speech is protect by pelrun · · Score: 1

      I think the perceived value of the 'speech' in question should be taken into account. There can be valid reasons to keep the author of a text anonymous - but protecting the author of hate speech from a (well deserved) lawsuit shouldn't be one of them.

    4. Re:Anonymous political speech is protect by DaveV1.0 · · Score: 1

      Please explain how personal insults and lies constitute "political speech".

      --
      There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
    5. Re:Anonymous political speech is protect by nedlohs · · Score: 1

      Have you never seen a political TV ad?

    6. Re:Anonymous political speech is protect by DaveV1.0 · · Score: 1

      Those ads are not anonymous. Try again.

      --
      There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
    7. Re:Anonymous political speech is protect by nedlohs · · Score: 1

      But they are personal insults and lies, which is all you asked for an explanation of in your anonymous free question.

    8. Re:Anonymous political speech is protect by DaveV1.0 · · Score: 1

      I asked him to tie anonymous political speech to the subject at hand, which is anonymous slander, in a meaningful way. Neither of you have done so.

      In other words, you have both engaged in the disingenuous use of a red herring. It is obvious you are both either intellectually dishonest or just fucking idiots. Either way, you are not worth wasting time on.

      --
      There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
    9. Re:Anonymous political speech is protect by nedlohs · · Score: 1

      I didn't reply to his post. In fact I didn't even read his post, and still haven't. (In fact only now do I look at thread headings and see it from Mr Crazy Crawford - count yourself lucky you went down this side track :)

      I replied to yours with an obvious joke, which if you took it seriously the counter is "just because some political speech has element X, does not mean all speech with element X is political", which is so obvious I'm amazed I had to type it. Not some "oh let me add anonymity to the conditions crap.

  18. Abuse of the System by whisper_jeff · · Score: 2, Insightful

    People should be charged when they intentionally and knowingly abuse the system (from filing bogus charges to initiating bogus lawsuits). Yes, I know, sometimes it's hard to tell when it's bogus and when it's just a "change of heart" but, often, an intelligent person can tell the difference. These sorts of abuses to the legal system harm its integrity and waste valuable resources that could be better spent dealing with, you know, real criminals and real societal problems. Were there actual consequences to abusing the system, perhaps people would be less inclined to play these sorts of games.

    1. Re:Abuse of the System by Bakkster · · Score: 1, Interesting

      IIRC, her belief was that the blog might have been written by somebody close to her (ex-boyfriend or similar), and thus someone she would want to press charges against. Of course, the only way to know if it was someone close to her was to sue and get the identity.

      I wouldn't say this is an abuse of the system, since if the blogger was someone she knew, I'll bet charges would have been pressed. That said, there are certainly circumstances where the system could be abused, but this isn't one of the,.

      --
      Write your representatives! Repeal the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics!
    2. Re:Abuse of the System by whisper_jeff · · Score: 1

      What does the person being close to her have to do with whether or not she'd press charges? If it's something worthy of putting before the courts, it shouldn't matter if the person is well-known to her or not. The only justification for pressing charges _only_ if the person is close to her is a personal vendetta "fuck you" played out through the court system. If she's unwilling to press charges against a stranger, she should be similarly unwilling to press charges against someone she knows. Sorry - it's abuse of the system, in my mind. It's using the legal system to play out something that most normal human beings handle on their own, like adults.

    3. Re:Abuse of the System by jmac_the_man · · Score: 1

      The "somebody close" was supposed to be a stalker, who at one point, broke a bottle across her face. The legal action that would have occurred would most likely have been criminal charges related to (continued) stalking.
      Since it isn't, she didn't follow through with suing this woman. Makes sense to me.

    4. Re:Abuse of the System by whisper_jeff · · Score: 1

      Then file charges for stalking which, to my knowledge, is illegal in most, if not all places in the US. During the course of investigating the stalking issue, if it comes to light that the stalker _also_ posted that material, _THEN_ add additional charges for slander (or libel - I forget which it was and always manage to pick the wrong one...). If she has a stalker then she can legitimately take action against the person now, without the need for finding other reasons.

      Sorry - but I believe she thought it was her ex-boyfriend and she was out to fuck him over in a fit of petty, vindictive rage. When it turned out to not be her ex, she moved on. I could well be wrong, but that's certainly how it appears to me.

    5. Re:Abuse of the System by thisnamestoolong · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Ahh... this is such a tough case. There is so much stupid bull$hit on all sides here... on one hand we have a spoiled brat model who thinks that she can take out personal vendettas through the court system and waste our time and money "cuz she's calling me names", and on the other hand we have a spoiled brat blogger who couldn't be bothered to read over the ToS that she already agreed to before filing a lawsuit. The legal process should be amended to keep both of these idiots out of the courts -- you should need to PROVE actual harm before you can bring a libel suit to court for one. The second suit should not even make it to hearing -- Google's actions were blatantly within the boundaries of law and the contract (ToS) that this clown agreed to. This is not even to mention how stupid anyone is that believes that they can truly be anonymous on the Internet -- it is a public forum, plain and simple. I need to stop now before all this stupid gives me an aneurysm...

      --
      To the haters: You can't win. If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine
    6. Re:Abuse of the System by russotto · · Score: 2, Interesting

      People should be charged when they intentionally and knowingly abuse the system (from filing bogus charges to initiating bogus lawsuits). Yes, I know, sometimes it's hard to tell when it's bogus and when it's just a "change of heart" but, often, an intelligent person can tell the difference.

      In fact, there's a cause of action for just this sort of thing. And it's called "abuse of process". According to Wikipedia (sorry, don't have Blacks Law Dictionary handy), "The person who abuses process is interested only in accomplishing some improper purpose that is collateral to the proper object of the process and that offends justice, such as an unjustified arrest or an unfounded criminal prosecution. Subpoenas to testify, attachments of property, executions on property, garnishments, and other provisional remedies are among the types of "process" considered to be capable of abuse."

      So, suing someone for defamation not for the purpose of obtaining damages or equitable relief, but rather to strip them of anonymity (and thus perhaps ruining their future employment prospects) before the case is decided, might count as "abuse of process". But it still seems she's suing the wrong party. Suing Google for complying with a court order is just not going to get her anywhere.

    7. Re:Abuse of the System by jmac_the_man · · Score: 1

      Then file charges for stalking which, to my knowledge, is illegal in most, if not all places in the US.

      She did that. She knows who the stalker is.

      During the course of investigating the stalking issue, if it comes to light that the stalker _also_ posted that material,

      The investigation is finished because she (and law enforcement) knows who the stalker is.

      _THEN_ add additional charges for [libel].

      The theory was that the fact that she and law enforcement already knew who the stalker was didn't stop him because he made this blog AFTER THE STALKING CHARGES. They were going to charge him with libel but didn't because he wasn't the person who made this blog. She didn't file charges against the blogger because she didn't care about the blog as much as she cared about getting the stalker to go away.

    8. Re:Abuse of the System by Theaetetus · · Score: 1

      The legal process should be amended to keep both of these idiots out of the courts -- you should need to PROVE actual harm before you can bring a libel suit to court for one.

      Well, you already need to show prima facie evidence of harm... you just don't need to prove it to the same burden of proof as the trial would hold - is that higher standard what you'd be requiring? In which case, how do you PROVE actual harm to that burden of proof without going to a trial, since you'd still need a jury to decide whether you've proved the harm before you could present your case to... the jury?

    9. Re:Abuse of the System by maxume · · Score: 1

      Yes, libel suits can be replaced with trying-to-prove-libel suits. Genius!

      Or was there some other legal mechanism you were suggesting as a way to resolve whether libel had occurred or not?

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
    10. Re:Abuse of the System by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bullshit. She was complaining about the words used to describe her. If she thinks they are less meaningful depending on who said them then I say the fact they were ever meaningful AT ALL is now called into question.

      Add "clueless bitch" to that model's description.

  19. Interesting poll on the article site by MartinSchou · · Score: 4, Insightful

    60% of the readers believes, that "if you are going to write something, you should have the courage to stand by it by putting your name on it.".

    Not necessarily wrong, but considering how much the US is clamouring for people in other countries to be allowed anonymous and secret access to uncensored (but not necessarily unbiased) news, I find it odd that people in the US shouldn't be allowed to express anonymous speech.

    Didn't some of the founding fathers publish a series of letters highly critical of the King's government before the revolution?

    Sure, they might kill him, but in a society where you can be sued into what is essentially life long indentured servitude with no means of paying off the "damages" you've done to some company by mentioning that they might not look clean to you, wouldn't you rather face death?

    1. Re:Interesting poll on the article site by Night64 · · Score: 1

      I find amusing that we can compare a Fashion Student calling a model a whore with the Founding Fathers writing letters to the King. I suggest you read the judge's reason to lift the anonymity protection in this case. Anonymity is a protection for political/ideological criticism, not a shield for defamation without responsabilization.

      --
      Grey's Law: Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice.
    2. Re:Interesting poll on the article site by hey! · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Well, one way to think about this is to ask how *equal* access to anonymity is in a society.

      To the degree that public officials can escape the consequences of their words and deeds, private individuals can reasonably demand the same privileges. A totally transparent society could work too, except it won't ever happen. Some people will be the first to lose their anonymity, others the last. And the last will have power over everyone else.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    3. Re:Interesting poll on the article site by pelrun · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I think it's more a case of "if you're going to be an asshole, don't be a coward as well." You can be critical without being a dick (and in that case anonymity is worthwhile/necessary) but if you're being a dick just for the sake of being a dick, you shouldn't expect to be protected.

    4. Re:Interesting poll on the article site by Draek · · Score: 1

      The problem is that who gets to define "being a dick" is, usually, the one that has the most to win by censorship.

      That's why things such as freedom of speech are defined so absolute: better to have ten dicks insulting around freely, than a single innocent in jail for "being a dick" towards the wrong person.

      --
      No problem is insoluble in all conceivable circumstances.
    5. Re:Interesting poll on the article site by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The idea that "if you are going to write something, you should have the courage to stand by it by putting your name on it" is similar to "if you have nothing to hide..." It assumes that we live in a just society and that no one could possibly take advantage of the system. Whether that's true or not is not the point though, the point is that privacy and anonymity are there to protect the individual from POTENTIAL abuse by the governing body.

      This case is disappointing because it went so far. This was nothing more that trolling. (calling someone a skank or ho or psychotic should not be grounds for a defamation case - it's name calling!)

  20. Greater Good by PunditGuy · · Score: 0

    There are legitimate reasons to allow anonymity -- whistle blowing comes to mind. In some cases, the greater good is served by some leeway in the ability of people and organizations to confront accusers.

    That said, I sincerely doubt that the skank status of anyone constitutes information necessary for the greater good.

  21. Hi-larious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ah, c'mon! This is a catfight between "Liskula Cohen" (ya can't make this stuff up!) and a blogger whose site had exactly 5 posts about the offending article, all written on the same day.

    This all has sooo much relevance to real life!

  22. Re:Most Internet anonymity is used to protect scum by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sorry, but merely "jerks calling people names" falls far short of defamation.

  23. Re:Most Internet anonymity is used to protect scum by RingDev · · Score: 1

    Insults are not defamation. They are matters of opinion.

    -Rick

    --
    "Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
  24. power isn't often balanced by circletimessquare · · Score: 5, Insightful

    it is often the case that someone who wishes to whistleblow on a company dumping into an aquifer, or having proof of a bullshit reason to invade iraq, is pitting themselves against a furious entity with a lot of power. such that you want anonymity ensured in communication channels where individuals are not afraid to speak out against crimes and abuses of the public trust by the government or other powerful entities

    of course, the flip side of that concept is you get this ridiculous skankfight and the legal idiocy resulting from that. but protecting skanks from identifying each other is a small price to pay considering the upside of protecting the concept of anonymity

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:power isn't often balanced by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Perhaps someone wishing to maintain anonymity should take some responsibility for it themselves rather than expecting a corporate entity to fight for their right to be anonymous. It's not hard to register a Blogger account using fake information and an disposable email address or to use an internet cafe or anonymizing service like Tor. If you're truly paranoid, you can use a different internet cafe each time and/or use anonymous proxies. If you do all that, Google can turn over all the information they like and you're still anonymous.

      It's incumbent upon us geeks to do our part and provide things like "The idiot's guide to remaining anonymous online" or "So you want to become an anonymous whistle blower?" But once that information is readily available, people wishing to be anonymous should take some initiative to get what they want.

  25. Re:Most Internet anonymity is used to protect scum by damburger · · Score: 1

    I don't know about God-given, but everyone has a right to call people whatever names they feel like. Its a quaint little concept called 'Free Speech' and anonymity helps protect it by preventing reprisals against someone who says something unpopular or that makes the powerful look foolish.

    --
    If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
  26. Re:Most Internet anonymity is used to protect scum by muckracer · · Score: 1

    > You have a right to anonymity. You forfeit it the instant you use it to
    > commit a crime or defame someone.

    I've had some discussions about that in regards to free speech. Somebody told
    me, that if you were to say to a cop "You're an asshole!" you'd be guilty of
    defamation or whatever the legal term for it is and he'd have legal recourse
    against you. If, OTOH, you'd say "In my opinion you're an asshole!" you'd be
    covered under the first Amendment of free speech. Anyone know more about that?

    Of course, in both examples above you'd likely get the shit kicked out of
    you...:-D

  27. Re:Most Internet anonymity is used to protect scum by AndersOSU · · Score: 1, Insightful

    you don't have a right to anonymity when making public speech.

    You only have a right to try to be anonymous. If someone discovers your identity it's your problem for not covering your tracks better.

  28. Court Order by BassMan449 · · Score: 1

    How can Google be responsible for protecting her anonymity, when it was a court order to reveal it. Is Google supposed to just refuse to fulfill the order? Please someone enlighten me.

  29. Re:Most Internet anonymity is used to protect scum by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    you are correct Mister SpongeBobPoopyPants

  30. "Does Rosemary Port think that she gave her by circletimessquare · · Score: 0, Troll

    identity to Google to look after for her until she grew up?"

    yes, absolutely. until the end of time, forever. what is your rationale for this not to be the case?

    as for your confusion about how fiduciary duty comes into play, i think the idea of earning the trust of your customers is a simple and easy concept to understand in terms of growing and maintaining a successful business, no? apparently ethics and morality mean nothing to you, only the shareholder's bottom line. in which case, you should be able to understand, in the vast reaches of business acumen, how and why the shareholder's bottom line is served by not breaching the customer's trust

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:"Does Rosemary Port think that she gave her by pjt33 · · Score: 1

      This is Slashdot, for crying out loud. If I can't be pedantic about the meanings of words here without being accused of being amoral, then where should I take my pedantry?

    2. Re:"Does Rosemary Port think that she gave her by m.ducharme · · Score: 5, Informative

      That's a nice bit of moralizing there, but "fiduciary duty" is a legal term of art and has a very specific meaning. It has nothing to do with fostering the trust of your clients. It's a specific relationship that's entered into when a professional has a certain kind of relationship with a client, or when a trustee/trustor relationship exists. A lawyer has a fiduciary duty to a client, because the client pays a retainer, which is held in a trust account until the lawyer does some actual work to earn the money, at which point it's transferred to the lawyer's account. This is just one example of course. The recognition of a fiduciary duty is a way of ensuring that professionals with specific expert knowledge, and access to the client's funds, don't take advantage of that position and simply fleece the client.

      The kind of trust you're talking about is, for most corporations, essentially marketing, as your relationship with that corporation involves transactions of money for goods or services, where the exchange is completed upon payment. In the case of Blogger, it's even more extreme, since you aren't actually paying to use the service, which means that Blogger/Google owes you nothing. One could argue that being exposed to advertizing is consideration for services (and I would argue that myself), but even then, Blogger/Google is only obligated to give you what they promised in the contract. Clearly there's value in owning up to the terms of your contract, but it doesn't attach a fiduciary duty to either party.

      And lastly, no contract or duty can force a party to break the law. Once the court ordered Google to turn over the information, any agreement they had with the Blogger to protect her privacy is dust in the wind. You can't contract to break the law.

      --
      Rule of Slashdot #0: You and people like you are not representative of the larger population. - A.C.
    3. Re:"Does Rosemary Port think that she gave her by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That first paragraph re: fiduciary duty is close, but not quite. The standard is so high that it protects not only affirmatively fleecing the client, but also profiting from one's position of trust even if no injury is done to the client.

  31. Blog On... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    may the blogger restart the tirade against the model, now that a whole bucket-load of new material is available to her. you could blog for months about everything that has gone on. rip that model a new one.

  32. She thought it was someone else by Attila+Dimedici · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It is pretty obvious from the some of the things mentioned in the earlier article that Liskula Cohen thought the blogger was someone else (perhaps someone who has an ongoing feud with her). When she discovered that the blogger was not who she thought it was, she dropped the suit. It is even possible that her case for defamation was partly based on other behavior of the person she thought was the blogger.

    --
    The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
    1. Re:She thought it was someone else by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1
      FTA: "The surprising decision, though, seems to have only increased the bad blood between the two women, who knew each other from Manhattan's fashion scene and reportedly quarreled after Cohen badmouthed Port to her ex-boyfriend."

      Seems like there was no actual monetary demand at all. Cohen just wanted to know who called her an 'old hag' and a 'ho' online. Imagine, a person getting so incensed by an anonymous blogger that she sues in court to find out who it is - and wins. If you ask me, Cohen's the one who comes out the worst. It's one thing arguing with idiots on the internet, can there be another level for suing internet people IRL?

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
  33. Laughing yet? by hesaigo999ca · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I would so be laughing right now, if this was a cool scam on their part...2 friends get together and plan how to launch or boost the models presence as well as make money...she write a nasty column, the model fake sues to out the anonymous friend blogger, then she sues google for 2 million and wins, then the model because of this gets tons of free publicity, she lands a 2million contract and everybody wins, cause they get to watch the drama unfold!

    1. Re:Laughing yet? by GPLDAN · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I bet Larry Flynt has already offered them a 100k each to make a porno. Where they do each other.

    2. Re:Laughing yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I would do a porno with you for 100K

    3. Re:Laughing yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't think the publicity will help the model get a contract, since she is such a skank.

    4. Re:Laughing yet? by Eil · · Score: 1

      She'll never win the lawsuit against Google, though, since her information was revealed through the discovery process of the trial. Google was required by law to hand it over to the court. Even their ToS say that they will do this and whats-her-name had to agree to those terms in order to sign up for an account with Google.

    5. Re:Laughing yet? by hesaigo999ca · · Score: 1

      yuck!...no kissing guys....PLEASE

    6. Re:Laughing yet? by hesaigo999ca · · Score: 1

      Unless Google actually has somehwere on their EULA that they would protect the rights of the end user and not give that info, then it would be false advertisement.

    7. Re:Laughing yet? by Eil · · Score: 1

      Uhh, they do have it in their EULA:

      http://www.blogger.com/terms.g

      "You agree that Google may access or disclose your personal information, including the content of your communications, if Google is required to do so in order to comply with any valid legal process or governmental request (such as a search warrant, subpoena, statute, or court order), or as otherwise provided in these Terms of Service and the general Google Privacy Policy."

      And even if this wasn't in the EULA, it wouldn't matter. They are still required by law to submit whatever information is requested through a legal discovery process. You can't successfully sue somebody for following the law.

    8. Re:Laughing yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I would so be laughing right now, if this was a cool scam on their part...2 friends get together and plan how to launch or boost the models presence as well as make money...she write a nasty column, the model fake sues to out the anonymous friend blogger, then she sues google for 2 million and wins, then the model because of this gets tons of free publicity, she lands a 2million contract and everybody wins, cause they get to watch the drama unfold!

      Heh there's a better chance of finding gold at the end of a rainbow, hehe.

  34. Re:Most Internet anonymity is used to protect scum by PhilHibbs · · Score: 4, Interesting

    You have a right to anonymity. You forfeit it the instant you use it to commit a crime or defame someone.

    But, and this is the crux of this case, do you forfeit it the instant someone accuses you of defamation? Back to the case in hand, the model should be dragged back into court for contempt. This is clearly abuse of the court system to get revenge without caring about justice.

  35. Re:Most Internet anonymity is used to protect scum by Rogerborg · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Insults are not defamation. They are matters of opinion.

    "Rick, I think you're a retard," is opinion. "Hey everyone, Rick is a retard," is slander/libel/defamation (dependent on mode of delivery and jurisdiction). M'kay?

    --
    If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
  36. Anonymity? by jshackney · · Score: 1

    Have some expectation of Internet anonymity? Unplug your computer and toss it in the local Blendtec Anonymity Service.

  37. Re:Most Internet anonymity is used to protect scum by professorguy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    (the Arpanet was never this bad)

    Speaking as one who has been on the internet since when there were fewer than 10,000 hosts connected, I'd say your memory is flawed. "Flame wars" were as bad (or even worse) then.

    There is a LOT more fear about what you can get away with now, because there are a LOT more laws about whether some speech is too free. And yet the flame wars have not been reduced one iota. Here again we've given up freedom for NO improvement in our situation.

  38. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 2, Informative

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  39. not very anonymous by rs232 · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Obviously the blogger wasn't very anonymous if the abusee could so easily find out her real identity. And if you are going to abuse someone else online than at least have the gumption of using someone elses account, preferably on their home computer - that way they'll get the blame ...
    --

    Citibank Hack Blamed for Alleged ATM Crime Spree"

    Hackers breach Heartland Payment credit card system

    --
    davecb5620@gmail.com
  40. This Gal Ain't No Aaron Burr by RobotRunAmok · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Didn't some of the founding fathers publish a series of letters highly critical of the King's government before the revolution?

    There is a difference -- practical and emotional, if not necessarily legal -- in speaking Truth to Power and saying that a private citizen is a whore. The Founding Fathers knew they had no chance if the King sent a squad of soldiers to their house in the middle of the night, but they were all about "settling differences like men" when it came to perceived personal insults (just ask Alexander Hamilton...)

  41. More likely reason for dropped case by codeguy007 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    There's no mystery here. I wouldn't be surprised that upon learning that the defendant is a student, it was decided that any chance for fiancial gain was lost and the case was dropped to save legal costs.

  42. Seriously? by brunes69 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Do you honestly believe that you should be able to sue someone simply for calling them a skank, online or otherwise?

    If so, I can't wait till you have a daughter in high school,, you will be an instant millionaire the first week, followed shortly by being bankrupt the next.

    1. Re:Seriously? by sumdumass · · Score: 1

      You aren't looking at the entire picture here. Calling someone a skank isn't really a problem until her reputation is a strong part of their work prospective.

      Assaulting the reputation of a model can stop her from working. It's equivalent to one engineer saying another civil engineer doesn't know the tensile strength of steel and caused bridges to collapse. It's more of a professional hit job then an insult. In this case, exposing the person to be some unqualified student-nobody was enough to negate the damages and she left it at that. If it had been someone inside the industry she worked with, it could have devastated her career.

  43. Narrowminded totalitarian idiots. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    The clear and specific reason why some people want anonymity to end is that people should be held accountable to the public pressure of opinion for what they say. There are no other reasons anyone has ever given. It's theorised that this will lead to a number of varied positive benefits, and there's a number of moral arguments supporting it (e.g. 'you cannot say what you want in real life without consequences, why should you have it on the internet?'), but we can probably all agree that the bolded statement is pretty much the founding reason for killing off anonymity. In consequence, that they should suffer negative consequences if they say anything bad.

    At the same time, those people will often actively work for the creation of anonymous speech in what they see as totalitarian countries. For example, in China, Myanmar, etc.

    The only mental mechanism which allows these viewpoints to coexist is the self-conviction that when it comes to oppressing problematic views, (my own) / (my country's public pressure) are forces for good and right, and hence it is good and right that people suffer consequences for challenging us.

    On the other hand, the public pressure in China and Myanmar is for evil, therefore people there should be protected from that pressure.

    Which is about as liberally navel gazing as you can be.

    Please show how I am wrong.

    1. Re:Narrowminded totalitarian idiots. by ErikZ · · Score: 1

      I can't tell if you're right or wrong, I can't follow your point at all.

      --
      Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.
    2. Re:Narrowminded totalitarian idiots. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Trying again:

      1. The reason people want to end anonymity is so that others can suffer well-deserved consequences if they say anything bad.
      2. They don't want to end anonymity in many other countries however, like in China.
      3. How can people live with this mindblowing contradiction?
      4. They can live with it if they believe that their public punishment-machine is good and only hurts people it should, whereas the one in China is bad and hurts people it shouldn't.

      How funny would it be if the US outlawed anonymity on the internet, and Chinese hackers supplied tools that allowed US citizens to post anonymously so that they wouldn't suffer oppression for stating their views?

    3. Re:Narrowminded totalitarian idiots. by GNT · · Score: 1

      Anonymity

      Many people don't want the things they say online to be connected with their offline identities. They may be concerned about political or economic retribution, harassment, or even threats to their lives. Whistleblowers report news that companies and governments would prefer to suppress; human rights workers struggle against repressive governments; parents try to create a safe way for children to explore; victims of domestic violence attempt to rebuild their lives where abusers cannot follow.

      Instead of using their true names to communicate, these people choose to speak using pseudonyms (assumed names) or anonymously (no name at all). For these individuals and the organizations that support them, secure anonymity is critical. It may literally save lives.

      Anonymous communications have an important place in our political and social discourse. The Supreme Court has ruled repeatedly that the right to anonymous free speech is protected by the First Amendment. A much-cited 1995 Supreme Court ruling in McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission reads:

              Protections for anonymous speech are vital to democratic discourse. Allowing dissenters to shield their identities frees them to express critical, minority views . . . Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority. . . . It thus exemplifies the purpose behind the Bill of Rights, and of the First Amendment in particular: to protect unpopular individuals from retaliation . . . at the hand of an intolerant society.

      The tradition of anonymous speech is older than the United States. Founders Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay wrote the Federalist Papers under the pseudonym "Publius," and "the Federal Farmer" spoke up in rebuttal. The US Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized rights to speak anonymously derived from the First Amendment.

      The right to anonymous speech is also protected well beyond the printed page. Thus, in 2002, the Supreme Court struck down a law requiring proselytizers to register their true names with the Mayor's office before going door-to-door.

      These long-standing rights to anonymity and the protections it affords are critically important for the Internet. As the Supreme Court has recognized, the Internet offers a new and powerful democratic forum in which anyone can become a "pamphleteer" or "a town crier with a voice that resonates farther than it could from any soapbox."

      The Electronic Frontier Foundation has been involved in the fight to protect the rights of anonymous speakers online. As one court observed, in a case handled by EFF along with the ACLU of Washington, "[T]he free exchange of ideas on the Internet is driven in large part by the ability of Internet users to communicate anonymously."

      We've challenged many efforts to impede anonymous communication, both in the courts or the legislatures. We also previously provided financial support to the developers of Tor, an anonymous Internet communications system. By combining legal and policy work with technical tools, we hope to maintain the Internet's ability to serve as a vehicle for free expression.

  44. Not a free speech issue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The Bill of Rights says you have the right to say whatever you want. It doesn't say you have the right to slander or libel someone, nor does it say you have the right to hide behind a corporation and claim a right to anonymity while you do so. There are cases when protection of anonymity is important or warranted. Is this such a case? Well, was Port engaged in political discourse, expressing opinions about the government? No. So she doesn't qualify there. Well, perhaps she was critiquing a figure in the public eye who should expect both good and bad things to be said about her? No, until this case broke, I doubt any of us had heard of Cohen. She might have been a model, but hardly of the visibility of say, Heidi Klum. Cohen had an expectation to privacy.

    So we're basically talking about Port making comments about an individual who is not in the public eye that could hurt that individual's professional life and damage her financially and emotionally. You don't have the right to defame somebody publicly, especially if doing so might hurt that individual financially or emotionally. I don't know what the legal definition of a skank is, nor do I know whether Cohen is one. But Port better be able to prove her claim or she should be forced to compensate Cohen.

  45. Here we go again by JumpDrive · · Score: 2, Funny

    Do Web hosting services even have a fiduciary duty to protect their clients, or is this all legal bluff and bluster?

    If you want legal advice, why don't you go to Harvard or Yale law, bulletin board or something.

    If you haven't noticed lately, our expertise lies mainly in games, which usually involves shooting people or blowing shit up. We're not to interested in the subtleties of legal discussion. If you can't shoot it or blow it the fuck up, we really don't have the patience for it.

    Unless you are basically giving us a chance to call a member of the female persuasion whose twat we will never touch, a skank whore, then this article serves no purpose.

    Liskula Cohen, you skank whore.

    1. Re:Here we go again by mcgrew · · Score: 1

      If you can't shoot it or blow it the fuck up, we really don't have the patience for it.

      Mythbusters!

      Unless you are basically giving us a chance to call a member of the female persuasion whose twat we will never touch

      BUSTED!

  46. Re:Most Internet anonymity is used to protect scum by MatthewCCNA · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It's an interesting point, I remember in the first episode of Penn & Teller: Bullshit! Penn Jillette said "...you'll notice more obscenity than we usually use...It's also a legal matter. If one calls people 'liars' and 'quacks' one can be sued and lose a lot of one's money...If we said it was all scams, we could also lose a lot of money. Bullshit's pretty safe."

    --
    "He is so stupid. And now back to the wall!" Moe Szyslak
  47. Damned if Google does, damned if it doesn't... by sirwired · · Score: 1

    Firstly, it should have been obvious to the courts that the allegedly defamatory speech was crossing the bounds of believability, ala Fallwel vs. Flynt, so it was a bad court decision straight off.

    However, Google did exactly what I would have expected them to do; they stayed on the sidelines and then only when an actual court order was produced, gave up the requested information. Google has no business need to protect the anonymity of their users at all costs, nor should anybody expect them to. They didn't cave at the first sign of trouble like the AOL of yore did, and it is unreasonable to require them to do more than they did.

    SirWired

  48. Reveal the identity but swear them to secrecy by mdmkolbe · · Score: 1

    Wouldn't it have been possible for the court to force the revelation of the blogger's identity to the other side for discovery purposes, but require them keep that identity secret under pain of concept of court?

  49. Nothing like a good chick fight... by cyn1c77 · · Score: 4, Funny

    This is awesome, because it doesn't involve just one skank ho, but two of them!

    I think something fishy is going on here due to the amazingly high level of animosity: They are either closet lesbians who secretly want each other or they are in cahoots and scamming the legal system.

    Either way, I want to see the sex tape.

  50. I'm on the fence about this one... by kaizendojo · · Score: 1

    One one hand, why should bloggers get to remain anonymous? It's not like they are commenters on an original post; they are the source of the article. If anyone can post anything about anyone else, how can we determine what is valid and what is mere conjecture (at best) or complete fabrication (at worst). However on the other hand, I can see the argument "why aren't bloggers offered the same freedoms that press reporters have?" coming out of this, but then bloggers aren't held to the same standards that reporters in the press/print media are held to...yet another reason why we should ALL be concerned that newspapers may go the way of the dinosaur.

    1. Re:I'm on the fence about this one... by ErikZ · · Score: 1

      Bloggers should remain anonymous because they have no institution to protect them from frivolous lawsuits like newspaper columnists do.

      --
      Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.
    2. Re:I'm on the fence about this one... by himurabattousai · · Score: 1

      One could easily turn this around and say that bloggers need to have greater ethics and standards than do print journalists. They have no reputation except for the one that they build for themselves. They don't have the luxury of being forced on a potentially unwilling audience, and one poorly written blog entry can be more damaging than one poorly written newspaper article.

      I've seen a truckload of shoddy reporting done by people who are content to ride on the coattails of the Associated Press or hide behind the respected name of the Tribune Company. Newspapers are folding because ever-increasing numbers of people find that they are irrelevant and refuse to read them. The standards that print journalists are supposed to follow mean little when those standards stand in the way of attracting readers.

      Remember: sex, violence and hysteria sell in print just as well as they do on television. They also grow old just as fast.

      --
      "osake no hou ga, biiru yori ii" to omotteiru.
    3. Re:I'm on the fence about this one... by kaizendojo · · Score: 1

      Bloggers should remain anonymous because they have no institution to protect them from frivolous lawsuits like newspaper columnists do.

      So if you don't have an "institution" to protect you, you should still be allowed to publish whatever you want without impunity? That's like saying if you can't afford to pay for car insurance, you should still be allowed to drive a car - just without any ID or license plates so no one can go after you. I'm sorry but I don't buy that; if you want to play with the big boys and consider yourself a "journalist" you should be subject to the same standards.

    4. Re:I'm on the fence about this one... by GNT · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Anonymity

      Many people don't want the things they say online to be connected with their offline identities. They may be concerned about political or economic retribution, harassment, or even threats to their lives. Whistleblowers report news that companies and governments would prefer to suppress; human rights workers struggle against repressive governments; parents try to create a safe way for children to explore; victims of domestic violence attempt to rebuild their lives where abusers cannot follow.

      Instead of using their true names to communicate, these people choose to speak using pseudonyms (assumed names) or anonymously (no name at all). For these individuals and the organizations that support them, secure anonymity is critical. It may literally save lives.

      Anonymous communications have an important place in our political and social discourse. The Supreme Court has ruled repeatedly that the right to anonymous free speech is protected by the First Amendment. A much-cited 1995 Supreme Court ruling in McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission reads:

              Protections for anonymous speech are vital to democratic discourse. Allowing dissenters to shield their identities frees them to express critical, minority views . . . Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority. . . . It thus exemplifies the purpose behind the Bill of Rights, and of the First Amendment in particular: to protect unpopular individuals from retaliation . . . at the hand of an intolerant society.

      The tradition of anonymous speech is older than the United States. Founders Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay wrote the Federalist Papers under the pseudonym "Publius," and "the Federal Farmer" spoke up in rebuttal. The US Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized rights to speak anonymously derived from the First Amendment.

      The right to anonymous speech is also protected well beyond the printed page. Thus, in 2002, the Supreme Court struck down a law requiring proselytizers to register their true names with the Mayor's office before going door-to-door.

      These long-standing rights to anonymity and the protections it affords are critically important for the Internet. As the Supreme Court has recognized, the Internet offers a new and powerful democratic forum in which anyone can become a "pamphleteer" or "a town crier with a voice that resonates farther than it could from any soapbox."

      The Electronic Frontier Foundation has been involved in the fight to protect the rights of anonymous speakers online. As one court observed, in a case handled by EFF along with the ACLU of Washington, "[T]he free exchange of ideas on the Internet is driven in large part by the ability of Internet users to communicate anonymously."

      We've challenged many efforts to impede anonymous communication, both in the courts or the legislatures. We also previously provided financial support to the developers of Tor, an anonymous Internet communications system.

  51. Re:Most Internet anonymity is used to protect scum by Dog-Cow · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The right to speak does not imply the freedom from responsibility.

  52. Re:Most Internet anonymity is used to protect scum by damburger · · Score: 1

    What responsibility? The responsibility to only say things that are considered palatable by the fuckers on the other side of the truncheon? Holding people 'responsible' for their statements is a euphemism for punishing people for saying the 'wrong' thing; as in the antithesis of free speech.

    --
    If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
  53. Abuse of the legal system by Millennium · · Score: 1

    Should such anonymity-busting court rulings include a provision for penalties if the plaintiff does not follow through with legal action after outing their target?

    I'm inclined to say yes. The blog was a clear attempt to defame the model, and the model could and should have pursued the case. Instead, they entered into a bad-faith legal proceeding, and this should carry penalties for not only wasting the court's time, but for causing anonymity to be broken without just cause. The blogger will no doubt face just consequences for her actions because of this -not through the legal system but through basic causality- and I have no sympathy for her personally. What I have a problem with is that the legal system was abused to make this happen, and that's just wrong. The model, too, should face consequences for involving the legal system in what could have been a justified case of restitution for wrong done, but was instead just petty vengeance.

    Google is innocent. It followed proper procedures for dealing with a court order that it had no way of knowing was part of a bad-faith proceeding, and for disclosing to the blogger that this could happen.

  54. In answer to the question by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Should such anonymity-busting court rulings include a provision for penalties if the plaintiff does not follow through with legal action after outing their target?

    The answer to that question is, not no, but hell no.

    It would be very destructive to make laws that require people to not drop a suit.

    (The tag "what could possibly go wrong?" applies here.)

    --
    http://www.geoffreylandis.com
  55. One word for Rosemary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... Tor

  56. blog: Rosemary Port in the flesh by nadaou · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    --
    ~.~
    I'm a peripheral visionary.
    1. Re:blog: Rosemary Port in the flesh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, but Rosemary Port is not from Hungry but from France.

  57. Re:Most Internet anonymity is used to protect scum by sumdumass · · Score: 2, Informative

    As soon as, no. You seem to be forfeiting it when someone presents the defamation to a judge and the judge determines that disclosing your identity is prudent to pursuing justice. This means that the judge actually saw the potential of defamation if not actual defamation and determined it was beyond hurt feelings to some extent.

    In this model case however, the situation had some preconditions to it. The model thought the anonymous person was someone specific and had intent to sue that person. When it was determined to be just some fashion student with no money, the model stopped pursuing it because enough damage had already been done and it wouldn't be likely to recover any of the expenses. The student is going to have a hard time finding a job in the chosen field after it was found he was behind these actions. His future employers will see him as a liability. Losing a lawsuit for defimation would probaby be over board because it would pretty much lock him out of the field for any job with a potential of paying her back.

    I think the model did the right thing here. Going ahead with the lawsuit and getting a 192 million dollar settlement on a student would have spiraled her career into serving coffee at RIAA executive functions. Had it been who she thought it was, she probably would have taken it further. But for now, she got as much justice as she thinks is appropriate. What she thinks is extremely important here because it was her who was defamed. She would set the terms to be made whole again in a court and unless they were ridiculous, the court would likely follow them.

  58. Re:Most Internet anonymity is used to protect scum by DaveAtFraud · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Once the model found out who had made the posts, she may have decided the "you can't get blood out of a rock." That is, it wasn't worth the legal expenses to continue the action since the person responsible for the defamation didn't have sufficient resources to even pay those expenses; let alone pay any sort of punitive penalty.

    Why should the model be "forced" to continue an action that won't bring her any compensation?

    Cheers,
    Dave

    --
    They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.
    Ben
  59. Different approach by Todd+Knarr · · Score: 1

    How about, instead of applying penalties, we change the approach? Right now the problem is that once the anonymous poster's identity is known, the original case is dropped and there's no way to force the plaintiff to file a new one naming an actual defendant. Instead, how about we not have the John Doe case dropped and a new one filed? It's, after all, the same defendant in both cases, the only difference is that in the second we know their name. So, file the John Doe case and make the case for having grounds to identify the defendant. Once the defendant's identity is known the case is amended to include their actual name, but since it's the same defendant no new case needs to be or is filed. If the defendant's responded, it now becomes much harder for the plaintiff to drop the case without the defendant agreeing to it and the plaintiff probably having to pay the defendant's legal bills.

  60. Re:Most Internet anonymity is used to protect scum by RingDev · · Score: 1

    "Rick, I think you're a retard," is opinion. "Hey everyone, Rick is a retard," is slander/libel/defamation (dependent on mode of delivery and jurisdiction). M'kay?

    Not m'kay.

    You saying, "Hey everyone, Rick is a retard" is not libel. For numerous reasons:
    1) I am unharmed by your statement. My reputation and well being have not be damaged. There is no injury, so there is no libel.
    2) The possible readers of this post have no reason to believe that you have any knowledge or standing to make such an assessment. You do not point out your authority, nor is the local readership likely to infer that you have any meaningful authority over my medical diagnosis.
    3) /. threads are more akin to a discussion in a bar as opposed to a published editorial in a newspaper, which means that slander/libel laws are significantly less likely to be enforced.

    All these reasons also apply to the original case. The Model had virtually no grounds for a libel lawsuit, that's why it got dropped. Why the judge allowed her to go after the speaker's identity with such a flimsy case is what bothers me.

    Now, if I had said, "I work in the social services field and I have been helping Roger cope with his mental retardation for the last 5 years.*" After which point you suffered due to that statement, THEN we would be talking about defamation. Until then, I'd just be another a-hole on the internet.

    -Rick

    *to be clear: I am not a social service worker, and I have no knowledge of your mental status.

    --
    "Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
  61. you are of course legally correct by circletimessquare · · Score: 4, Insightful

    and completely morally bankrupt (in your argument here, not in general, no personal attack)

    if the first amendment is not vigorously protected from idiotic legal decisions, the entire basis of the society upon which this might legal code rests begins to decay

    my use of the term "fiduciary duty" is still 100% fine in this situation, since the use of term is not beholden to a purely legalistic interpretation. all businesses have, indeed, a fiduciary duty (not in legal terms) to protect and foster the trust of their clients, just as you note. that i am not using the term with 100% legality is besides the point, because there is a larger legal issue here in play that must be fought, however shoddy the ammunition

    the legal code has no meaning if it corrodes the principles upon which it stands, which, in this case, it obviously does (the first amendment). despite all polemics and verbose gyrations to the contrary, despite the (supposed) legal preeminence of whomever is authoring such polemics

    i respect no legal decision that obviously abridges the first amendment, and i expect no one else to either. of course, who the hell am i to declare my moral preeminence here over the decisions of those far more legally learned than myself? lots of people believe in such self-grandiosity, from al qaeda terrorists to morons who shoot abortion doctors. you would and should retort that this is a dangerous position for an obvious legal buffoon like myself to take, without a firm understanding of the subtleties involved. leave the legalities to the professionals

    i would respond that normally, yes, it is not my position to speak, but when vital concepts are abridged, it is my duty to speak. the questionable opinions of legal buffoons like myself are moot as long as the legal structure and those charged with upholding the essential principles of the country actually do that job, and do it zealously. they haven't done so here

    for the common people such as myself may not be legal scholars, but we're not idiots, and we will not tolerate a clear and obvious stray from a clear and obvious directive, which the ruling that compels google to divulge the identity of blogger obviously violates the spirit of the first amendment, if not the minuscule and mechanical letter of the law

    most of the time those declaring their moral ascendency over legal rulings are deluded quacks. but every once in awhile, the system is in error, and the common layperson actually has it right. that is the case with the decision to divulge the blogger's identity: the legal system has failed to hold the most important principles up. and so we legal buffoons take notice, and we should take notice. the stakes are too high not too

    so be careful that your fine tuned legal interpretations do not provide you cover for ignoring the most important principles in play here. not that you are doing such a thing, but someone in the system here obviously is. it effects us, and it is important to us, when the first amendment is grossly violated as is the case here. the first amendment should be important to you to

    not that i am saying it isn't, but if you think that the use of the term "fiduciary duty" is incorrectly used in the fight against a completely bogus legal decision that obviously, even to a legal buffoon, goes against the first amendment, i would simply ask that you mute your objection in the name of the more important principles in play here

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:you are of course legally correct by Runaway1956 · · Score: 3, Informative

      "my use of the term "fiduciary duty" is still 100% fine in this situation, since the use of term is not beholden to a purely legalistic interpretation."

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiduciary

      TBH, I had to look the word up. Was looking for an argument, really. But, it seems that you are right, especially considering the fact that ./ is an international community. Having expanded my understanding of the English language, I gotta give you points for making a good point.

      Of course, that doesn't preclude any skanky ho comments! ;^)

      --
      "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
    2. Re:you are of course legally correct by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Where in the first amendment does it mention that your right to free speech (which is protected) is also covered by a right to anonymous free speech? While I certainly support the first amendment, I don't believe it says you have such an anonymous right.

    3. Re:you are of course legally correct by m.ducharme · · Score: 2, Insightful

      and completely morally bankrupt (in your argument here, not in general, no personal attack)

      if the first amendment is not vigorously protected from idiotic legal decisions, the entire basis of the society upon which this might legal code rests begins to decay

      You can't use the first amendment as a shield to protect you from the consequences of slanderous or libelous behaviour. That would be totally unjust. If things were otherwise, I could, hiding behind the veil of anonymity, slander you, cry out to the world that you make snuff films and produce kiddy porn, and you would be able to do nothing about it, thanks to the protection of the first amendment. That's not just.

      my use of the term "fiduciary duty" is still 100% fine in this situation, since the use of term is not beholden to a purely legalistic interpretation.

      Your use of the term "fiduciary duty" is akin to grandma calling the tower of her computer the "cpu" or the "hard drive." It's incorrect. You are free to abuse the term all you like, but you're still wrong.

      all businesses have, indeed, a fiduciary duty (not in legal terms) to protect and foster the trust of their clients, just as you note.

      To clarify, businesses (and any other parties to contracts) have the duty to obey local laws, and to honour any legal contracts they make. They have a moral duty to behave in certain honourable ways, and indeed it may be in their own best interests to do so. None of this creates a fiduciary duty. Sorry.

      because there is a larger legal issue here in play that must be fought, however shoddy the ammunition

      the legal code has no meaning if it corrodes the principles upon which it stands, which, in this case, it obviously does (the first amendment).

      I think that's very much open to argument. Publishing the name of a blogger is not the same as restricting that person's speech, and libel laws exist for a reason. Just as your right to move your fist about ends where my nose begins, there are natural limits to your freedom to speak. One of those limits is that you're not allowed to say nasty things about people if 1) they are hurt (financially, usually) by your speech and 2) the things you say are lies. Truth has always been a defence against slander and libel claims.

      i respect no legal decision that obviously abridges the first amendment, and i expect no one else to either.

      The only decision made in this case was the decision to force Google to cough up the name of the blogger in question. Have you read that decision, or the order? No? Neither have I. Without actually being there in court to hear arguments, you're not really equipped to weigh in on the justice of that particular order. In other words, you have no idea if that order actually abridges the first amendment, and neither do I. My wager is, that it doesn't.

      for the common people such as myself may not be legal scholars, but we're not idiots, and we will not tolerate a clear and obvious stray from a clear and obvious directive, which the ruling that compels google to divulge the identity of blogger obviously violates the spirit of the first amendment, if not the minuscule and mechanical letter of the law

      You keep using the term "obviously", but it's not at all obvious. Don't forget that this isn't a case of the State repressing political speech: one private citizen has gone to the courts and said "someone whose name I don't know has said damaging things about me, and I want compensation. But I need this person's name to bring them to court. Can you get me this name?" And the court, being the arm of the State, whose job it is to arbitrate exactly these kinds of disputes, ordered Google to cough up the name.

      Again, if I set up a website claiming that your low budget Filipino Horror Movies were really snuff films, and subsequently scared off all your investors, shouldn't you have the right to find out who I am, so you can sue me?

      --
      Rule of Slashdot #0: You and people like you are not representative of the larger population. - A.C.
    4. Re:you are of course legally correct by nacturation · · Score: 1

      I'm making a Low Budget HDV Filipino Horror Movie in NYC [bangamovie.com]

      I'm guessing the horror part is that since you've been working on this for the better part of a decade, all the actors visibly age in the movie and one-by-one mysteriously die off due to premature old age? :)

      --
      Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
    5. Re:you are of course legally correct by Shooter28 · · Score: 1

      and completely morally bankrupt (in your argument here, not in general, no personal attack)

      if the first amendment is not vigorously protected from idiotic legal decisions, the entire basis of the society upon which this might legal code rests begins to decay

      my use of the term "fiduciary duty" is still 100% fine in this situation, since the use of term is not beholden to a purely legalistic interpretation. all businesses have, indeed, a fiduciary duty (not in legal terms) to protect and foster the trust of their clients, just as you note. that i am not using the term with 100% legality is besides the point, because there is a larger legal issue here in play that must be fought, however shoddy the ammunition

      the legal code has no meaning if it corrodes the principles upon which it stands, which, in this case, it obviously does (the first amendment). despite all polemics and verbose gyrations to the contrary, despite the (supposed) legal preeminence of whomever is authoring such polemics

      i respect no legal decision that obviously abridges the first amendment, and i expect no one else to either. of course, who the hell am i to declare my moral preeminence here over the decisions of those far more legally learned than myself? lots of people believe in such self-grandiosity, from al qaeda terrorists to morons who shoot abortion doctors. you would and should retort that this is a dangerous position for an obvious legal buffoon like myself to take, without a firm understanding of the subtleties involved. leave the legalities to the professionals

      i would respond that normally, yes, it is not my position to speak, but when vital concepts are abridged, it is my duty to speak. the questionable opinions of legal buffoons like myself are moot as long as the legal structure and those charged with upholding the essential principles of the country actually do that job, and do it zealously. they haven't done so here

      for the common people such as myself may not be legal scholars, but we're not idiots, and we will not tolerate a clear and obvious stray from a clear and obvious directive, which the ruling that compels google to divulge the identity of blogger obviously violates the spirit of the first amendment, if not the minuscule and mechanical letter of the law

      most of the time those declaring their moral ascendency over legal rulings are deluded quacks. but every once in awhile, the system is in error, and the common layperson actually has it right. that is the case with the decision to divulge the blogger's identity: the legal system has failed to hold the most important principles up. and so we legal buffoons take notice, and we should take notice. the stakes are too high not too

      so be careful that your fine tuned legal interpretations do not provide you cover for ignoring the most important principles in play here. not that you are doing such a thing, but someone in the system here obviously is. it effects us, and it is important to us, when the first amendment is grossly violated as is the case here. the first amendment should be important to you to

      not that i am saying it isn't, but if you think that the use of the term "fiduciary duty" is incorrectly used in the fight against a completely bogus legal decision that obviously, even to a legal buffoon, goes against the first amendment, i would simply ask that you mute your objection in the name of the more important principles in play here

      Maybe if you used punctuation I'd read this. You may have good points, but by refusing to use capital letters, you're telling me you are either lazy or stupid.

    6. Re:you are of course legally correct by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're an idiot, he schooled you, and you try to weasel out of it with cute semantic games.

      I fart in your mouth, sir.

  62. The printer "turning you in" by phorm · · Score: 1

    Actually, I seem to remember reading some time back that a lot of high-res/color printers *do* embed some form of unique indentifier in micro-print so as to identify where counterfeit money was printed (other printers would actually refuse to print something that looked money-like but identifying certain key symbols).

    So if you printed something outing the local cops/politicians/etc and billboarded it, and they later tagged it to your printer because it had the same micro-print as a separate letter to your kids' school, or whatever, would the printer manufacturer (HP/Canon/etc) be on the hook if such functionality was not disclosed?

    1. Re:The printer "turning you in" by AndersOSU · · Score: 1

      Since you (likely) don't have an agreement with the printer manufacturer not to disclose your personal data, they could turn over the info to cops without so much as a warrant. (the caveat to that is if the fine print on the warranty/registration card granted you some privacy - in which case the police might have to get a court order) The only person who would be on the hook is you - provided the speech itself was not protected.

    2. Re:The printer "turning you in" by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

      So if you printed something outing the local cops/politicians/etc and billboarded it, and they later tagged it to your printer because it had the same micro-print as a separate letter to your kids' school, or whatever, would the printer manufacturer (HP/Canon/etc) be on the hook if such functionality was not disclosed?

      I realize I'm completely failing to address your argument here (and an interesting argument it is!), but practically speaking, you should probably just use a black & white laser printer for that sort of thing...

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

  63. No, why? by DragonWriter · · Score: 1

    Should such anonymity-busting court rulings include a provision for penalties if the plaintiff does not follow through with legal action after outing their target?

    Since its possible that the identity and circumstances of the anonymous poster could affect the legal viability and utility of the lawsuit, and since the plaintiff cannot know those effects until the anonymity is pierced, probably not.

    It serves neither the public interest, the interests of the potential defendants, nor the interests of the plaintiffs if plaintiffs in such cases were compelled to sue the people outed.

  64. i thought the first amendment was the law by circletimessquare · · Score: 1

    of course, someone sitting on the judicial bench somewhere doesn't think the first amendment trumps all of the other issues here. that doesn't make their ruling correct. and so, more creative legal avenues need to be considered to enforce the most important principle in play here. unfortunately the legal system seems to have waylaid the first amendment in this particular case, and they need to be corrected

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:i thought the first amendment was the law by maxume · · Score: 1

      The Constitution largely works by restricting the powers of the government. I'm not well versed in the myriad specifics, but it generally does not place requirements upon private individuals or organizations (I'm sure there are exceptions to this, but restricting the powers of government was certainly a core design goal of the framers). So I'm not sure that offering to host content for free brings with it a responsibility to fight for the first amendment rights of anyone who takes you up on the offer (in fact, I'm pretty sure it doesn't).

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
  65. I'm not sure what "skank" means. by EWAdams · · Score: 1

    One of the three forms of defamation in California is "impugning the chastity of a woman." Another is accusing someone of a crime (outside the context of an actual complaint to law enforcement). If "skank" means "prostitute" then it qualifies on both counts.

    Sorry, Charlie, you don't just get to accuse people of being prostitutes because you're anonymous.

    --
    I piss off bigots.
    1. Re:I'm not sure what "skank" means. by Trepidity · · Score: 1

      In everyday speech "skank" is a less specific accusation than "being a prostitute", more like "slut". It's just an accusation of promiscuity, not criminality.

  66. How about the RIAA by phorm · · Score: 1

    This is a bit different but similar in nature to what the RIAA was doing to discover the identities of filesharers: going after them with one charge to get their identity, drop that charge, and sue them once you have their name(s).

  67. Next time, use 4Chan by TejWC · · Score: 1

    If you want to call somebody a skank, just use 4Chan!

  68. Soooo-eee! by Quiet_Desperation · · Score: 1

    Sue! Sue! Sue! Everyone is suing! I wanna sue! I'm tired of working for a living. Someone give me a reason to sue them! Oh, wait, we don't need reasons anymore! Woot!

  69. thank you by circletimessquare · · Score: 1

    a compliment from someone whose slashdot relationship with me is currently marked as "freak" is rare indeed... you skank! ;-)

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  70. Well said. Civil society demands accountability. by EWAdams · · Score: 1

    Anonymity should be judicially preserved in special cases that are in the public interest. It's pretty clear from the subject matter posted that the public interest is not being served, and therefore there is no need to preserve anonymity.

    --
    I piss off bigots.
  71. Ye Olde Internet by phorm · · Score: 1

    It was better in some ways and worse in others. The worse was that the population tended be rather more heavily skewed towards geeks, who as we know tend to be rather strongly attached to their opinions and often rather egocentric. The better was that at least many of those geeks had semi-educated (if differing) opinions, and tended not to go towards lame lawsuits etc. The problems online tended to be those of a certain segment of society.

    Now we have everyone on the internet, which opens it to everyone's problems. Whereas before I saw the major immaturity of a small number of individuals, now I tend to run into the more widespread immaturity of a larger group. Try playing an FPS/RTS online, for example. Where in the past you might have run into the odd jerk, it now seems to have become a festival of annoying idiots. That's not to say that non-geeks are generally non-idiots, but rather that now we have a greater population of annoying idiots to choose from, and it gets a lot more difficult to filter them out. Add to that the marketroids, scammers, and everything else, and it's become a pretty big mess.

    That we have the lawsuit-happy over-sensitive variety of idiot is not surprising, but it is sad and was much less an issue with the original/earlier internet.

  72. Re:Well said. Civil society demands accountability by sumdumass · · Score: 1

    When it's a public interest. However, in this case, it was a private interest and I don't see where anything was handled wrongly.

  73. Agreed 110% (been thru it a few times) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "The problem is, people have gotten so used to being able to act with impunity that the Internet has become a thoroughly nasty place (the Arpanet was never this bad), and they think it's now their God-given right to call anybody any name they like. It about damn time these jerks were outed and made to take responsibility for their actions." - by EWAdams (953502) on Monday August 24, @08:35AM (#29171735) Homepage

    Agreed, 110% - &, Especially after one gets replies like this one (that I had here on this website VERY RECENTLY, no less (&, large tracts of it are quoted next below)) -> http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1337863&cid=29087083

    I'd be willing to bet that the goof from the URL above who made various threats & such directed my way there as he did, such as:

    "it would be much more likely that I'd wind up squeezing your head hard enough to pop your skull right out through your greasy never-washed hair, and I'd even wager that your skull is thick and heavy enough that I could go bowling with it. Your beady little eyes are probably set just right to be good finger holes, too. And I'm sure your mouth looks just like a thumb hole after your life of sucking thumb sized-dicks. Like your own. And after that I could shit down the bloody stump of your neck, since that's what you seem to want to get from me. I must admit I've never understood scatological fetishists, but whatever floats your boat.... Just to make you feel even more inadequate to go along with your empty threats and irrelevant asinine ranting about raw sockets, I also scored an 800 on my Math Level II SATs. And I currently make well into 6 figures as a software consultant and mostly get to work out of my house, which until the housing bubble burst was worth well over $1 million. Now it'd probably only sell for $800K or so. ... All true. Relatively speaking, between you and me, well, it sucks to be you. It just warms the cockles of my heart to laugh at you and your irrelevant inability to code in Win2K. Because anybody who really wants to can get the hardware needed to send just about any bits you want to over just any wire you'd like, making your "raw socket rant" sound like something coming out of some LSD-inspired UFO fantasy. Dumbass. And not just any dumbass. One dumb enough to advertise." - by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 16, @07:49PM (#29087083)

    LMAO, yea... right!

    First of all: That fool doesn't understand the WHY of why "raw sockets" were pulled (because they COULD be used for TCP reset attacks & others also, because you used to have FULL access to all packets' headers & spoofing was easily possible), but, because of it, you actually LOSE many abilities...

    Secondly: So much for his ALLEGED (b.s. most likely) "software consultancy" business, because it's being manned by a moron imo @ least, & ESPECIALLY since he didn't realize it was not a threat I was speaking of - only a 'crippling' of the OS, but, with reasons... in response to the poster I replied to.

    Lastly: SO, Like I said there, in regards to his various innuendos of "squeezing my head" etc. et al? BRING IT!

    (We'd see "what's-what", then... &, yes, anytime: Fact is, I'd STRONGLY WAGER that he is actually the one w/ the "stringy hair" & what-not, & probably only weighs 125 lbs. soaking wet... dolts like that one I quoted above? They tick me off... large!)

    YES - I've seen that before the quoted example thereof above from recently here, & many years prior in fact, on forums - & those types, like the one above?? FULL OF IT, everytime... Example? OK - With a guy named "Capt. Kickass" over @ 3dFiles.com years ago (before ZDNet bought them out & destroyed them)... He's friends with Tim Tibbetts (he owns majorgeeks.com now, & 3DFiles.com back then... Yes, Tim used to be an PERSONAL in real life acquai

    1. Re:Agreed 110% (been thru it a few times) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You conveniently left off your post that triggered that retort:

      See subject & realize 1 thing: If I wanted any of your shit, I'd squeeze your head... "dude"

      APK

      Can't let it go, can you? You're still squealing two weeks later. :-D

      You're hilariously stupid.

      I'm still laughing at you.

  74. Free speech has limits, as it must. by EWAdams · · Score: 1

    And yes, we do punish people for saying the wrong thing. If I stand up in Times Square and read out classified documents, I can't get away with it on the grounds of free speech. Ditto if I accuse my neighbor of being a prostitute or a burglar. Ditto if I have signed an NDA and violate its terms.

    Responsibility is the price of liberty. If you don't like it, go live in Somalia, which has no functioning government, and you really can say anything you like at any time... just as long as the local warlord lets you live.

    --
    I piss off bigots.
    1. Re:Free speech has limits, as it must. by damburger · · Score: 1

      You claim that accusing your neighbour of being a prostitute or a burglar isn't responsible, then how do crimes get solved?

      Your problem lies in who gets to define the term 'responsible' - in a society with no anonymity but with widespread communications and media, it is the person who can afford the best PR firm and the best lawyers. They will, usually being people who have gained power through the love of power, define 'responsible' as 'that which perpetuates and expands my power'.

      Public opinion is beyond the scope of the courts; because most of what the public understands about court rulings is seen through the prism of the media, which is usually owned by someone with an interest in the proceedings.

      Its guerilla information warfare out there. Out in the open, the individual would be shouted down, humiliated and personally crushed by the state and the corporation. So he must hide and strike from the shadows. Call it cowardly, call it irresponsible, but I call it the only way it is not possible to fight for free expression.

      --
      If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
    2. Re:Free speech has limits, as it must. by murr · · Score: 1

      I am the local warlord, you insensitive clod!

    3. Re:Free speech has limits, as it must. by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

      Ditto if I accuse my neighbor of being a prostitute or a burglar.

      True, but only if your speech is a genuine accusation. If it's merely an epithet then it doesn't count. It's the difference between yelling "[neighbor] is a whore" to add pizazz to a generalized rant because you happen to be pissed off at the neighbor, and standing at a street corner telling passers-by "my neighbor, [so-and-so], engages in prostitution" in an earnest tone of voice.

      In other words, context is important.

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

  75. Truth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    After finding out who posted it she decided against further action as she knows it is true what he posted.

  76. wrong terminology by SL+Baur · · Score: 1

    Somebody told me, that if you were to say to a cop "You're an asshole!" you'd be guilty of
    defamation or whatever the legal term for it is and he'd have legal recourse against you. If, OTOH, you'd say "In my opinion you're an asshole!" you'd be covered under the first Amendment of free speech

    Wrong terms. Both you and the person who told you that are stupid, er, I mean in my opinion both you and the person who told you that are stupid. Protected speech or no, telling a policeman that he's an asshole to his face is always an unwise idea, no matter how much of an asshole he is.

    I'm rather surprised I've gotten this far down in the discussion and no one has yet mentioned the Streisand effect. I'd never heard of this Cohen person before, but from reading about this case and looking at her picture the word "skank" does seem to apply.

  77. Re:Most Internet anonymity is used to protect scum by gumpish · · Score: 1

    Speaking as one who has been on the internet since when there were fewer than 10,000 hosts connected

    Suuuuure Mr. 1,100,000+ uid.

  78. the spirit of the first amendment and the internet by circletimessquare · · Score: 1

    if only the full implications of the internet on the first amendment were so cut and dry

    there are plenty of legal precedents where a whistleblower was not properly protected from the wrath of powerful interests that were crossed, and those who disabled the whistleblowers protection were found culpable

    the government is not the only entity out there that can abridge your anonymity, especially in the case of an entity as powerful as google, in a day and age where i can post something on botswana and it can be read the next minute in iceland

    so you are legally correct, according to a venal, narrow, blind reading of law, rather than an attempt to apply the spirit of the first amendment to the internet age, and find that the government should not be the sole entity in question here, when it comes to protections to be rightfully expected by the layperson

    of course, i speak from morality, but i don't speak from a corporate legal warchest, so expect the spirit of first amendment protections to recede in the internet age, unfortunately, until the full corrosive effects on society of not extending first amendment protections to powerful internet entities begin to manifest

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  79. You missed a scenario: by Col.+Bloodnok · · Score: 1

    Alternatively, a testable, legal definition for what makes a person 'a skank' is established and enshrined in law (finally!).

    1. Ms. Rose is exhonerated
    2. Ms. Cohen is convicted of first-degree skankness, conspiracy to skank or skanking without a license, by a jury of her peers.

    What the hell is a skank anyway?

     

  80. There are some historical examples by MichaelCrawford · · Score: 1

    During the French Revolution, the revolutionaries portrayed Marie Antoinette as a lesbian, for example. This back when that wasn't something one would be willingly out about. I can't think of any specific examples, but my hazy memory suggests that the American revolutionaries portrayed the British in general, and the British royalty in ways that were less than factual.

    --
    Request your free CD of my piano music.
  81. Re:the spirit of the first amendment and the inter by maxume · · Score: 1

    Frankly, I'm glad that there is no legality that requires Google to enforce your morality (or anyone else's for that matter).

    The availability of rather strong anonymous mechanisms (post AC to Slashdot from a public library, they won't find you; there are lots more) makes your whimpering about the spirit of this and that and corrosive effects rather tiresome.

    --
    Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
  82. a sexually promiscuous woman without tact by circletimessquare · · Score: 1

    implies poor hygiene and flakiness, untrustworthiness

    also has class overtones

    skank was (is) a generalized slang term for filth

    http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Skank

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:a sexually promiscuous woman without tact by Col.+Bloodnok · · Score: 1

      Makes sense.

      Listula Cohen does sound like a bacteria found in unsanitary bagel factories.

      Not a 'friendly' bacteria, if you know what I mean...

  83. Re:Most Internet anonymity is used to protect scum by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Exactly. This is school-yard level stuff.

    But because these two women are adults rather than kids in a school yard, the insults "skank" and "ho" rise to the point of being "defamation" rather than the infantile name calling? Obviously, if it's "written on the Internet", such insults would be taken much more seriously by other people, right??

    Bah! These women need to grow up. They're acting like 14-year-olds. Immature 14-year olds.

  84. "Real" names are not unique by SL+Baur · · Score: 1

    That would force people to be responsible for their actions. I think posting real names would also fix all the crap my son gets himself into on line. He would know that he can't get away with it being 13. His age would be verifiable.

    Sigh. It doesn't work that way. I have a fairly unusual spelling for my last name. Even so, when I first Altavistaed my name when it first came online in the mid 1990s I found a minor league hockey goalie and an actor who appeared in Scarface with the same first name/last name spelling.

    Today, there are "Steve Baur"s on all the social networking sites. None of them are me - I don't have a single social networking account.

    Also, read this - http://www.elliott.org/blog/tsa-nabs-another-five-year-old-security-threat/

    1. Re:"Real" names are not unique by Sgt.+B · · Score: 1

      Understood Steve. Part of my hopes is that something better than the 'I'm 18' button comes out soon. When we found my son's myspace account, he was 11 with 18 listed for the age and questionable quality material, mostly profanity and explicit lyrics on the site. We forced him to update it with correct info and clean it up. We recently found his Facebook page. He wouldn't be able to access half the stuff he does if he was required to supply verifiable info. (yes he accesses the internet outside of the house as well) I use OpenDNS to block most of it at home. My hope for real name concept is that a parent would be able to reasonably track their kids activities and like the original reply stated, a good portion of the stupidity we find on line would stop because people would be afraid to be associated with the crap they type. A dream yes, but it's a nice one. lol Thanks for the reply, Raum

    2. Re:"Real" names are not unique by SL+Baur · · Score: 1

      He wouldn't be able to access half the stuff he does if he was required to supply verifiable info.

      That still doesn't work. See Tim May's LolitaWatch parody and my own (then anonymous) KiddieFind response in kind to the Clinton administration's attempts to legislate age traceability.

      http://cu-digest.org/CUDS8/cud831

      And note that all the stuff I wrote over 13 years ago regarding tracing through online databases, is more true today.

      My hope for real name concept is that a parent would be able to reasonably track their kids activities and like the original reply stated, a good portion of the stupidity we find on line would stop because people would be afraid to be associated with the crap they type.

      Not worth it to me. Once my sons are old enough to get online, I'm going to forbid them from revealing their age. I'm irritated by crap like http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1343929&cid=29156491 but I guess I'm no longer American enough to think there should be a law against anonymity.

      Scott: "He called you a tin plated dictator with delusions of grandeur."
      Kirk: "And so that's when you hit him, Mr. Scott?"
      Scott: "No sir! It was only words, men can take a few insults."
      Kirk: "Um, Mr. Scott, why did you hit him?"
      Scott: "Sir, he called the Enterprise a garbage scow."

      http://calypso.tux.org/pipermail/xemacs-beta/2007-August/011977.html

  85. beware her sister, Staphie Habib, skank of unsanitary hummus factories ;-)

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  86. Any Port in a storm by goombah99 · · Score: 1

    I'd say that Rosmary Port has defined her own new class. Won't be long before someone has a blog called the "Ports of New York" in her honor. Oh my gosh there already is: Looks like google already has a blog for "the ports of new york". Will they out it?

    --
    Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
  87. Re:Most Internet anonymity is used to protect scum by Jeremi · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What exactly was the revenge that the model enacted on the blogger? Did she key her car? Boil her pet bunny? If all she did was get the blogger's name disclosed and ask the blogger to stop, that seems pretty mild and proportionate to me.

    Keep in mind that for a model, one's public image quite literally is one's meal ticket. If a blogger suceeds in convincing the public that you are a bad person who should not be emulated, then you are not going to get any more work as a model, ever.

    If someone was purposefully and maliciously undermining my reputation, I would probably do the same things this model did -- better that than lose my career to defend some foul-mouthed blogger's alleged right to defame me.

    --


    I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
  88. Fudiciary duty or not, this needs to be fixed by davidwr · · Score: 5, Interesting

    John Doe subpoenas should result in the name being released to either a special master or to a "firewalled" lawyer whose only job it is is to contact the named defendant and serve him with papers. The named defendant should be given an opportunity to either quash the original subpoena after the fact or petition the court that the lawsuit will be in to be allowed to use a pseudonym.

    If there is no forthcoming lawsuit, the would-be plaintiff never gets "usable" access to the defendant's information.

    If this can't happen for whatever reason, the court issuing the subpoena to the ISP should issue a gag order on the plaintiff, which can be lifted after a lawsuit is actually filed. The lawsuit should be filed with the defendant's name sealed until it's determined that it's in the public interest to name the person.

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
    1. Re:Fudiciary duty or not, this needs to be fixed by ioshhdflwuegfh · · Score: 1

      John Doe subpoenas should result in the name being released to either a special master or to a "firewalled" lawyer whose only job it is is to contact the named defendant and serve him with papers. The named defendant should be given an opportunity to either quash the original subpoena after the fact or petition the court that the lawsuit will be in to be allowed to use a pseudonym.

      You mean the lawsuit should be started secretly, and an appropriate meta-lawsuit carried on to determine whether the lawsuit ought to be continued?

  89. whistleblowers by circletimessquare · · Score: 1

    that battling skanks are protected as a side effect is a valid tradeoff for a legal understanding serving the greater good

    common laypeople who question or accuse powerful entities like the government or large corporations deserve legally sanctified anonymity. in cases where power is asymmetrical between accusers, whistleblowers can be abused mightily if they were not anonymous

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  90. Absolutely Wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You probably should have started your post with IANAL, but you failed. I just wanted to point out that your arguments are completely INVALID in the legal realm. But if you were interested in truth you might have fact checked, so I won't waste any effort informing you further.

    1. Re:Absolutely Wrong by AndersOSU · · Score: 1

      I'll spell it out for you IANAL. That doesn't make my point any less valid. "I know you're wrong, but I won't tell you why," isn't the most convincing of arguments, but I have researched this, so I'll offer some evidence anyway.

      We have a right to free speech and freedom of assembly. Generally this means that most anonymous speech cases are not adjudicated on the anonymity factor, but how they impact the well established and explicitly stated rights. For example, in NAACP v. Alabama, the court found that subpoena of the NAACP's membership lists violated the due process clause and the right to assemble. In Talley v. California and Watchtower v. Village of Stratton SCOTUS found that mandatory registration of solicitors ran afoul of free speech protection.

      However, you have to look no further than the paid for statement of next campaign ad you see, or the disclosure requirement on the next political donation you give to see that there is no universal right to anonymity.

      Imagine a graffiti artist arguing that he can't be prosecuted under vandalism law because he was exercising his constitutionally guaranteed right to anonymous free speech. The very idea that we can't seek out your identity if you're suspected of doing something illegal because of protected anonymity is absurd.

    2. Re:Absolutely Wrong by AndersOSU · · Score: 1

      Just because you want it that way doesn't make it so.

      First Cash v. John Doe : the court rejected the motion to file his motion under seal, effectively exposing him

      Manalapan v. Moskovitz : the anonymous blogger at issue isn't one of the parties to the suit and isn't involved, basically the court said it wouldn't reveal the identity of the blogger if the state didn't have any reason for requesting the info.

      Dominick v. MySpace : EFF argued that the petition violates the First Amendment right to remain anonymous until a litigant can demonstrate a viable legal claim.

      Fix Wilson Yard v. City of Chicago : not resolved, but there isn't a clear legal claim against the anonymous.

      E. Van Cullens v. John Doe : plantiff withdrew the claim after a anti-SLAPP countersuit was filed, essentially admitting he wasn't likely to prevail.

      RIAA v. Verizon : a good victory, but not at all relevent

      Doe v. Cahill : this one is actually fairly close to what we have here. The allegedly defamatory statements are, "Anyone who has spent any amount of time with Cahill would be keenly aware of such character flaws, not to mention an obvious mental deterioration" and "Gahill (sic) is a paranoid". It should be noted that Cahill is a city councilman, and thus a public figure, and therefore defamation suits are less likely to prevail. The Delaware Supreme Court held, "that a defamation plaintiff must satisfy a "summary judgment" standard before obtaining the identity of an anonymous defendant."

      So even in the case on point (in Delaware, not New York) the court would have released the personal information had the plaintiff raised a claim that could withstand a summary judgment.

      In this case, the court found, "Here, petitioner ... has sufficiently established the merits of her proposed cause of action for defamation."

      So again, your supposed right to anonymity ends as soon as someone can bring a claim against you that can survive some preliminary scrutiny. This case, Cohen v. Google, survived scrutiny as did First Cash v. John Doe and the court unmasked the blogger. In Dominick v. MySpace, E. Van Cullens v. John Doe, and Doe v. Cahill, the court didn't find a sufficiently meritorious claim to unmask the anonymous blogger.

      If you had a RIGHT to anonymity the court couldn't unmask you EVEN IF there was a legitimate claim against you. This is why the graffiti artist isn't a strawman, under your imagined right to anonymity, the court would be bound to respect anyone trying to be anonymous, in spite of clear evidence of wrong doing.

  91. Benjamin Franklin, Anyone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's kinda like what he said once; "an society that would give up a little liberty for a little security deserves neither".

    He was right sure you have idiots like these two floating around, but something like this creates a precedent. If and when you breach someones privacy on such grounds and the system allows that to happen. How can you defend the whistleblowers?

    Seems illogical, right? But any good lawyer can get you a ruling based on prior antecedents. I would for instance argue that the whistleblower has defamed public officials who were courageously performing their line of duty until the defendant came along and threw unsybstantiated accusations at my client. So on and so forth.

    Hence, must we give in at all? After all being called a skank and ho hardly ruined that models day. Whereas being outed in the future for doing the right thing will definitely put a spanner in your works.

  92. Re:Most Internet anonymity is used to protect scum by PhilHibbs · · Score: 1

    My point is that she should not have brought a court action just to expose someone's name and then drop it. That's abusing the court system, and therefore she clearly is contemptuous of the court. Interpreting that as "she should be forced to continue" is misrepresenting my point. And to counter the "how do you know", well, that's what the court system is for, making an informed decision on the truth of someone's intent (e.g. the difference between murder and manslaughter).

    Alternatively, the judge should be able to award damages to the defendant when someone brings their name into question like that, even if it's just a token amount. There should be consequences for bringing mischievous lawsuits.

  93. Re:Most Internet anonymity is used to protect scum by PhilHibbs · · Score: 1

    If someone was purposefully and maliciously undermining my reputation, I would probably do the same things this model did -- better that than lose my career to defend some foul-mouthed blogger's alleged right to defame me.

    So sue them and follow it through to a win, don't just deliberately bring a case to the point of removing their anonymity and then drop it.

  94. Legally define skank and ho by MooseTick · · Score: 1

    If she planned to fight defamation by being called a skank and/or a ho, I wonder what the person's defense would be. That she is a skank and is known to have done A and B, and exhibits ho properties including X and Y.

  95. once again by circletimessquare · · Score: 1

    your legal understanding of the fine mechanics here is beyond my ability to refute

    but don't you think there is a larger concept in play here that needs to be zealously protected?

    your analogy to a website aping a film of mine as a snuff film is incomplete

    snuff films are obviously illegal regardless, so if the films in question were instead satirical of my creations, this is in fact protected by law. plenty of politicians would lambast and sue political cartoonists that accuse them of all sorts of character flaws and malfeasance were it not for the legal protection of satire

    likewise, to call someone a skank or a ho is simply the same sort of empty personal attacks as a political cartoon that anyone with the slightest sense of social sense should be able to weather without comment. its baseless. of course, if you have some sort of insecurity, you can proceed on legal grounds and find woefully out of bounds legal professionals sympathetic to your wounded pride, and wind up with a ruling that puts a huge dent in people's expectations of anonymity to speak their minds

    this hurts society. it puts a huge damper on the free exchange of ideas. for the sake of what? a model's wounded pride and ego?

    now if instead of flinging baseless accusations at this model, the anonymous blogger had directly attacked her means of financial support, such as accusing her of not showing up for modelling work, of being unprofessional and unprepared for gigs, this is grounds to proceed against her, according to the analogy you outline. absolutely i agree with this

    but just calling someone names? what is that? is that really slander or libel? does it impact ability to get work? is there any substantiation? or is it just empty anger everyone should be able to ignore if they have any common sense? should our laws really empower empty insecurities at the cost of everyone's ability to have a certain comfort level for fully expressing their opinions on all sorts of controversial topics?

    the internet is completely new, legally and socially speaking, and its implications are still being worked out. there are tradeoffs, as you well know on delicate issues. you can err too far on the side of protecting abusive trolls. but you can also err too far on the side of protecting insecure people with ego problems, at the cost of everyone's fair expectation of anonymity, and therefore the cost of the richness of exchange of ideas on the entire internet. don't you think, as i think, that the cost of allowing a few horrendously abusive trolls who perhaps don't deserve any protection is worth it?: a richer, freer, exchange of ideas?

    all i am asking you to do is to consider that some conventions of internet communication, such as blogging, deserves an expectation of anonymity perhaps greater than you (and the judge who ruled of outing the blogger) would initially give. if only because the internet is a new medium, and has a new convention of maximum societal value, which the judge's decision hurts

    hurts far more than any baseless accusations flung around by nominally empty and pointless blogs hurt insecure people

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:once again by m.ducharme · · Score: 1

      The problem here is that there are several larger concepts here that need to be protected. Freedom of speech is one of them. But so is equal access before and under the law. And so is the right to seek damages for harm done to you.

      It doesn't matter whether you're talking about being falsely accused of making snuff films or being called a bimbo by a classmate, if you suffer damage from that slander, you deserve your day in court to prove the extent of that damage. To restrict people from having access to the courts because their complaint is "not serious enough" is to deny them equal access to the law, a right that has been recognized in the common law tradition for a very long time.

      The problem with claims that seem frivolous is that someone has to decide if the claim is really frivolous or not. The first person to decide that is the claimant: is it worth it to spend your time and money trying to recover your damages? Is it worth the stress and headache of having the other guy's lawyer cross-examining you in deposition and on the stand? Many people over-value their own claims, but many more decide not to pursue legal action at this stage. If they over-value their claim, there is a check for that.

      The second decision-maker there is your own lawyer (who has a fiduciary duty to you -- a duty to make sure that you're not wasting your time and money in a hopeless enterprise), who advises you on the probable outcome, and helps you weigh whether you're likely to get a reward and assess whether that reward will be sufficient to cover the legal fees and leave some left behind for the claimant. Of course, lawyers can be crooked, or incompetent, and so some claim that you've got a case when really, you're only going to get enough to cover their bill. But it's not in their best interests to take on outright loser cases, because they'll get paid far less for a loser, or maybe not at all.

      The next check on whether the claim is frivolous is the judge, who gets to look at the claim from an impartial viewpoint and decide if there's enough smoke there to warrant looking for the source of the fire.

      Now in this case, which you feel is frivolous, the plaintiff made it up to and past the judge. If she got that far, there's probably some value to her claim (if she can prove her damages), which means that her right has to be weighed in the balance against the blogger's first amendment rights. It's not up to you or I to decide whether her claim has merit, it's up to a judge, who hears all the evidence and weighs that against the law. But for a judge to make that decision, he has to know who the defendant is, and the defendant has to be before the court which means that courts have to order companies to release names of anonymous bloggers.

      Also, you're confounding two different kinds of rights here; the right to freedom of speech, and the right to privacy. The right to freedom of speech is enshrined in the Constitution, but the right to privacy is not. and that's an important distinction. Your name is not a matter of privacy, it's a matter of public record. It's the identifier that world at large uses to identify you(and incidentally, in most common-law countries, your address is also public information).

      Nobody stopped the blogger from continuing to blog, they removed her anonymity. She is still perfectly free to keep posting to her blog. In fact, her anonymity is still preserved to the extent that the court did not force her to publish her name. The publishing of her name was done through a Third Party, namely a newspaper, that also enjoys an important freedom, namely freedom of the Press. The newspaper plays an important part in this analysis, because without the news article, next to nobody would know about this. The Court doesn't try to disseminate info like this far and wide, they merely make it available to people who care enough to take the trouble to look. Apparently the newspaper thought it was worth their time to look, and published the whole story, as is thei

      --
      Rule of Slashdot #0: You and people like you are not representative of the larger population. - A.C.
    2. Re:once again by AndersOSU · · Score: 1

      Agree almost completely.

      2 small issues: First, couldn't the judge have allowed the case to go through as a Jane Doe case with gag orders issued to all involved not to reveal the defendants identity?

      Second, while the right to privacy isn't explicitly enumerated, it flows naturally from the 4th and 14th, and SCOTUS has said as much in Griswold v. Connecticut and Row v. Wade. Your right to privacy doesn't extend to public acts, like blogging.

    3. Re:once again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thanks for the clarifications. Yes I suppose it could be allowed to go through as a Jane Doe case, but there would have to be some extraordinary circumstances, I would think, to counter-act the press freedom issue and the fact that justice should be accessible to the public, and in particular the community in which the injury occurred. Having said that, I'm not at all familiar with the case law (I'm studying in Ontario, not New York), and if you have superior knowledge in that regard I'll defer to it.

    4. Re:once again by gnud · · Score: 1

      Without knowing anything at all about the US legal system, common sense suggests to me that the identity should at least be kept a secret until a verdict is given (if possible). If the accused is aqquited, s/he could be allowed to remain anonymous.

    5. Re:once again by jamstar7 · · Score: 1

      Second, while the right to privacy isn't explicitly enumerated, it flows naturally from the 4th and 14th, and SCOTUS has said as much in Griswold v. Connecticut and Row v. Wade.

      The 10th, I think. The one that says any rights not vested to the feds or given to the states devolve to the people:

      Amendment X

      The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

      Pretty much says it all.

      --
      Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
    6. Re:once again by AndersOSU · · Score: 1

      You don't want that one. That one says that the states can legislate away your right to privacy. You're much better going with it being implicit in the 4th and 14th.

    7. Re:once again by m.ducharme · · Score: 1

      That's never really happened in any common law country that I know of, except in cases where the accused is a minor, or where sexual assaults are involved (and then the accused's name is hidden to protect the identity of the victim).

      Also, libel is not usually a criminal offense, it's a civil tort, and defendants in such cases have much less rights than a criminal would. A criminal's rights are meant to protect them from the State, but a civil suit defendant isn't being attacked by the state, they're being attacked by another individual person, who has far less power than the State, and proportionally speaking, may have been injured far more.

      Lastly, you generally don't have the right to preserve the anonymity of your name. You may use whatever name you want to, but in court proceedings, you generally don't have the right to keep that name private. The community in which the tort or crime has been committed has rights too, you know. They have the right to know when members of their community are called before the courts. An open court system, where anyone at all can access the courts and see what goes on, is fundamental to a free society under the rule of law.

      --
      Rule of Slashdot #0: You and people like you are not representative of the larger population. - A.C.
    8. Re:once again by st0nes · · Score: 1

      Please use your shift key to produce conventional capitalization. Your posts are really annoying to read.

      --
      Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis
  96. Re:Most Internet anonymity is used to protect scum by DaveAtFraud · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The great majority of court cases are settled out of court. Either the parties reach an agreement or the moving party decides not to pursue the action. The courts encourage such settlements. It hardly means that the model is "contemptuous" of the justice system. Since she is the plaintiff, she is under no obligation to continue the action and can discontinue it at any time. As it is, she had the legal expenses to file the suit, compel Google to disclose the blogger's name and probably quite a few other expenses. If the model is content to simply out the person who defamed her, she is perfectly entitled to stop at that point or at any other point of her choosing.

    The blogger can sue Google (good luck with that under their terms of service) or she can sue the model if she was actually harmed in some way by the disclosure of her identity. My take is that she doesn't understand the difference between free speech and anonymous slander. The first amendment only bars the government from making laws that diminish free speech. That's quite a bit different from a court deciding that what someone says rises to the level of slander and compels that the person who slandered someone be identified. The blogger has the "right" to say what she did but she may then have to show that what she said wasn't slanderous. There is no "right" to anonymity.

    Cheers,
    Dave

    --
    They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.
    Ben
  97. Hmmmm. I wonder if these two are in cahoots? by WindBourne · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Seriously, they know each other. Cohen goes after this, THEN drops the suite. BUT, Porter goes after Google. I wonder if cohen will end up with millions after this? Sounds complicated, but it makes more sense then does the actions that have occurred so far.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  98. reason ? by Tom · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Any automatic penalty will be abused.

    But it certainly is worth it looking into the motives and reasons. They may have just decided that they don't want to bancrupt a student. You know, some people who go to court are still human beings.

    --
    Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
  99. THERE SHOULD BE NO EXPECTATION OF PRIVACY FOR THIS by wolverine_1957 · · Score: 1

    G'day, I find this whole thing abso-bloody-lutely ridiculous for this young lady, and I use the term loosely as my mother taught me to be respectful, decided to call a model " A SKANK" and then tried to hide behind Google's TOS expecting that they would shield her for slander and libel. The courts made them give her name out and rightly so as the picture shown of the young woman who is 29 and who feels that 37 is an old hag leads me to believe that she is jealous of the Canadian model's success and nothing more. People who slander and libel others have no right to whine when caught. I'm not a bible thumper, but it says, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." This is something that she, the blogger didn't do as she took it on herself to call names without proof. It's obvious to me that this bird has some serious issues with models and chose Liskula Cohen as her target of the moment expecting never to be found out. Well, what if the shoe was on the other foot and Ms. Cohen was calling this blogger the very same names, she'd be doing the same thing, screaming at Google to tell her who this person was who was casting defamatory remarks against her. Bottom line she got caught and now she don't like having to pay the price.

  100. you have weird sense of what force means by circletimessquare · · Score: 1

    i am taking a position that no one should be forced out of anonymity... and i'm the one who is "forcing" my morality onto you?

    your description of my point of view is logically incoherent

    i hearby force you not to reveal yourself to me!

    i hearby force you to have more freedom than you desire!

    huh?

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:you have weird sense of what force means by maxume · · Score: 1

      Sure. The notion that the government should expend resources protecting party a is just as much force as the notion that the government shouldn't bother doing anything to protect party a from party b.

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
  101. Seems rather simple? by amohat · · Score: 2, Insightful

    When google or whatever give you the option to click "anonymous" then they should stand behind it, or change the button to say something different.

    Is staying anonymous not possible? Fine, stop lying then by saying that it is!

    Hiding some fine print in the TOS is anti-consumer and otherwise a pretty shitbag thing to do. In other industries, it would not be an issue, it would be fraud. Like saying the transaction is secure/encrypted but then oopsies, it's not really and they never intended it to be?

    Details, legal crap, all that scoots aside. How about some basic honesty? (do no evil)

  102. WTF by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Okay, so now we know that somebody named Rosemary Port called somebody named Liskula Cohen some naughty stuff. How does that hurt Ms. Port? On the other hand, the fact that Cohen dropped the suit implies that the comments made by Port were not actually defamatory (if they clearly were, why would she drop the suit)? So basically, Cohen screwed her own reputation by basically implying that whatever Port said was true and defensible in court, while Port walks away with a little bit of celebrity. The only word I have for this is "WTF?"

  103. Re:Most Internet anonymity is used to protect scum by Dragonslicer · · Score: 1

    I've had some discussions about that in regards to free speech. Somebody told me, that if you were to say to a cop "You're an asshole!" you'd be guilty of defamation or whatever the legal term for it is and he'd have legal recourse against you. If, OTOH, you'd say "In my opinion you're an asshole!" you'd be covered under the first Amendment of free speech. Anyone know more about that?

    Yes, it's incorrect. Slander and libel only apply to statements of fact, and they apply to statements of fact regardless of how you try to pass them off as opinions. "That police officer assaulted me" is defamation. "I think that police officer assaults people" is still defamation. "That police officer is an asshole" is not a statement of fact and is therefore not defamation, unless you're claiming that the officer is literally only an anus, in which case you'd probably get brought in and tested for a few drugs.

  104. hey, genius by circletimessquare · · Score: 1

    the issue in question is the government

    1. compelling google to reveal someone's identity
    2. or not

    option #2 is this radical difficult to grasp concept called "the government not doing anything"

    please explain, in your vast intellectual superiority, how that equates to "the government expending resources"

    durrr

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:hey, genius by maxume · · Score: 1

      If you want the first amendment to apply to Google, someone has to enforce that (probably the government). If the government isn't enforcing it, then you are asking Google to step in front of anyone who takes them up on their offer for free hosting, which I doubt they have any interest in doing.

      You are muddling things just as much as I am, though I happen to mostly be doing it in response.

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
  105. Any case retraction should be punished by billcopc · · Score: 1

    I think it should be quite obvious to everyone, the greatest threat in any legal battle isn't so much the law, it's the extravagant costs incurred in court. The mere threat of dragging someone through that hell, forcing them to hire an attorney to defend against any alleged transgression, is usually enough to bully law-abiding citizens into doing whatever the big guy asks of them.

    To launch that intimidating process, and then abort it prematurely, should be considered a threat and punished as such. Either you follow through to the end and accept whatever judgment is handed to you, or if you do chicken out early, it is considered forfeiture by default. I think that would cut down on frivolous court abuse, and as a bonus it would stop the RIAA dead in its tracks!

    --
    -Billco, Fnarg.com
  106. Not the place for courts by Geof · · Score: 1

    this is all stupid bluff and bluster

    That is my impression too. Apparently these two women already knew and disliked each other offline:

    the two women . . . knew each other from Manhattan's fashion scene and reportedly quarreled after Cohen badmouthed Port to her ex-boyfriend.

    Now it may be that Port's blog really did harm Cohen's reputation. If so, then all this is justified. But I doubt it - I don't think many people would take anonymous online claims that someone is a "ho" seriously. On the other hand, while anonymity is an important political freedom, this is not what it is intended to protect.

    This looks to me like a private spat that has blown way up out of proportion. It does not look to me like something that is worth the court's time. If these two women were yelling at each other in a public street, I don't think the court would care. It appears to me that we have laws designed for career-limiting libels being applied to a tempest in a teapot, wasting public money and resources that could be better used for something more significant. As a consequence, we have precedent for political speech being set by exactly the wrong sort of case.

    Our legal systems seem to have real problems coping with the blurring of private and public online. "Private" used to mean something known to a few people, while "public" applied to activities that were widely observed. While anyone can read a blog, before the circus this particular blog was probably more private than public. Similar problems occur with copyright infringement, where formerly accepted activities create massive risk because they are seen as public - though in many cases they may not be any more widely observed than the mixtapes of my youth. (Admittedly it is very hard to tell which infringement online is limited to a few people, and which to a large group. But my point is that communication intended for and witnessed by a small audience is being regulated as if it was published on the front page of the New York Times. This can result in ridiculous judgments and significant waste of public resources.)

  107. Re:Most Internet anonymity is used to protect scum by Draek · · Score: 1

    The responsability that comes with Free Speech is that of accepting other people's speech even when we don't like it (such as, I don't know, being called a "ho" or a "skank"), and it is going and punishing it, using the courts no less, what's running away from that responsability.

    --
    No problem is insoluble in all conceivable circumstances.
  108. Terms of service... by Tribeca1248 · · Score: 1

    I'll begin by saying IANAL. That out of the way, in the Blogger Terms of Service, Section 3, there's explicit language giving Google the right to disclose personal information if required by, among other things, "court order." This would seem to remove any recourse the "skank" blogger has, since presumably she agreed to these terms when she began writing her blog. As far as her attorney saying that the "right of privacy" is inherent in the First Amendment, I would suggest that's a rather liberal interpretation of that amendment, and not an absolute protection even then. If I'm not mistaken, libel or slander is generally not protected speech. The fact that the plaintiff in the original suit has now decided to drop the suit does put an interesting wrinkle in this whole sordid affair. I doubt we've seen the last of either Ms. Cohen or Ms. Port... sigh...

  109. I said, "in Times Square." by EWAdams · · Score: 1

    Accusing someone of a crime in Times Square is libel. Doing it in a police station is, obviously, protected speech.

    As for your paranoid fantasies about the government and the corporations, get over them. With the Internet, cheap printers and video cameras, and print-on-demand publishing it has never been easier to spread your opinion around as much as you like without any restraint whatsoever. That's where the problem lies. Additional freedom has not been accompanied by additional responsibility.

    --
    I piss off bigots.
  110. Liskula Cohen isn't all that hot by thetoadwarrior · · Score: 1

    I think Rosemary looks better. Liskula isn't gonna age well, imo.

  111. I think we're forgetting something here... by sirgoran · · Score: 1

    Goggle at first refused to reveal the blogger's identity. Only after a Court Judge ordered Google to comply and reveal the name did they do so. The simple fact is that if you say anything online, you should be willing to stand behind it regardless of being posted under your name or a pseudonym. If you're not willing to stand behind your statements, then you should keep your comments to yourself. Much like many parents have taught their kids, "If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all."

    The fact that the two females knew each other, and that one of them chose to use a public forum for her own petty crap goes to show the character of the person. I don't think it mattered who blew her cover, she'd still want to sue.

    But I'd be willing to wager that the models slander case gets refiled if the blogger gets any money out of Google.

    IMHO I think both females are looking for a quick buck.

    -Goran

    --
    Carpe Scrotum - The only way to deal with your competition.
  112. Weird system by improfane · · Score: 1

    98% percent of lawyers make the other 2% look bad.

    It's sad that suing is so damaging to someone's financial situation. It shouldn't.

    If someone is objectively wrong, why can't they be punished?

    --
    Slashdot needs Geekcode | Can anyone recommend any good SCIFI? My tastes: Foundation, Startide Rising, CITY, Ringworld,
  113. Can anyone say... by shentino · · Score: 1

    ...malicious prosecution?

  114. IMO by OrangeMonkey11 · · Score: 1

    This is a stupid fucking cat fight between two ho that should have been solved in a kiddie pool of Jello but instead one of them run crying to the legal system :(

  115. Look it up: 1984 by professorguy · · Score: 1

    My first post to the internet was in July of 1984. Look up how many hosts comprised the internet then.

    My first post to slashdot was in 1999, but I always posted AC until a few years ago.

  116. Re:Most Internet anonymity is used to protect scum by St.Creed · · Score: 1

    I'm terribly sorry, but Slashdot wasn't and isn't the onliest website in the world, especially not outside the USA. As for me, I never created an account until one day I actually found something to post and some time to do it in - which would probably be the same for a lot of other folks.

    But I remember those flamewars. Loads of fun with Derek Smart, in the games newsgroups. Or the writer of the "worst Usenet fantasy novel ever" who was convinced it was a masterpiece. I'm pretty sure there were others (You can still find my real name listed on a nazi website because I voted in a group they didn't like too much - that was a pretty good flamewar :)). I got even got suspended for a week at the university for participating in one of those :)

    I also remember C-beams glittering in the dark at the Tannhauser gate, but that's another story...

    --
    Therefore, by the (faulty) logic you're using, you're just a cow with a keyboard - osu-neko (2604)
  117. The question is "ethics", not fiduciary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It should be noted that when a journalist "protects" a source, said journalist is often required to spend some time in the slammer. The journalist, at least in part, accepts a degree of responsibility for what has been written. Perhaps Google's execs weren't that eager to do the same.

  118. Re:Most Internet anonymity is used to protect scum by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

    IMO, there are two problems with construing saying "you're an asshole!" to a cop as defamation:

    1. Unless the cop in question is Assy McGee, it's quite obvious that you're not literally claiming that the cop is an asshole, but rather using the word merely for its connotation of "not nice" -- and that makes it an opinion, whether you explicitly state it as such or not. (And of course, if the cop is Assy McGee, then it's not defamation anyway because it's true!)
    2. Legally, defamation is untruthful communication that damages a person's reputation. But if you're making the accusation to his face, then the issue would be whether you damaged his reputation as evaluated by himself, which makes so little sense that I had a damned hard time finding words to express the concept! And we're not talking about the cop's self-respect here, either -- merely hurting someone's feelings doesn't cut it. Defamation is more than a mere insult; it requires that people believed the false accusation to be true. And the cop obviously isn't going to believe you when you make a false accusation to him about himself!

    In order to successfully defame the cop, it would help to make the statement something that could plausibly be construed as a sincere accusation (e.g. say "you are corrupt" instead) and to express it to a third party instead of the cop himself (or at least yell it loud enough for bystanders to hear).

    --

    "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

  119. Legitimizes the need for true Anonymous Services by DLG · · Score: 1

    I think the recent news reports regarding bloggers being outed and then fired for the content of their entirely legal publishing has made the argument that anonymous use of the internet is defensible for freedom of speech. Perhaps because the journalists have a respect for sources that are not disclosed, and protecting those sources, there is a sympathy to this story that is starting to gain momentum. The end result is that the discussion that only criminals benefit from anonymity is weakened.

    It is hard for me personally to believe that anyone expects anonymity on the internet, but I have assumed the FBI had recorded all of my posts since 1992.

  120. Re:Most Internet anonymity is used to protect scum by gnud · · Score: 1

    Thank you sir; I always wondered how to properly defame an officer of the Law.

  121. Re:Most Internet anonymity is used to protect scum by jamstar7 · · Score: 1

    Bah! These women need to grow up. They're acting like 14-year-olds. Immature 14-year olds.

    Cue l*wy*r attack in 3.. 2.. 1..

    --
    Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
  122. Re:Most Internet anonymity is used to protect scum by jamstar7 · · Score: 1

    Speaking as one who has been on the internet since when there were fewer than 10,000 hosts connected, I'd say your memory is flawed. "Flame wars" were as bad (or even worse) then.

    But at least back then, they showed their math.

    --
    Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
  123. Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If calling someone names is against the law, then I have a number of lawsuits to file.

  124. Intresting... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    to see Ms. Cohen using the same tactics as the RIAA.
    She invented this claim of loss of work to bolster her case. She then gets the name of the person, calls that person and says it will all be forgiven if she just says sorry.

    If her loss of work was so great, and her reputation so impugned why is she not going to court?
    Why has there been no mention of any challenge to her claims? 35 yr old models, don't get work.

    Ms. Port is now hopping on the bandwagon of lets just sue to make it better, inventing claims.

    This entire case is a joke. Court time was wasted on some stupid (insert derogatory term here) is having a hissy fit because she got called a skank.
    She makes up "facts" to support her case, and then when people call her out she drops it all.
    She was so desperate to clear her name, or maybe just desperate to restart a career.

    But now we have a new standard that anyone can cite when they get their feelings hurt on the internets...
    I've always believed AOL lead to the downfall of the internet. Once upon a time you needed to have half a brain to figure out how to use it, now you just click a button and its all there in front of you.

  125. LMAO, see? Stalked yet again here... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "I'm still laughing at you." - by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 24, @04:57PM (#29177939)

    The PLANET's LAUGHING @ YOU after MY reply there -> http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1337863&cid=29089743 where I prove I have actually done the things you only SAY you have!

    (AND, like is usual for "your kind", the "not men in life & online"? Well, you could not produce proof of 1 single shred of your bragging words which were "all about you", 'allegedly' (not)... now, could you? Nope. That makes you nothing, but a blowhard... period.)

    ----

    "Can't let it go, can you?" - by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 24, @04:57PM (#29177939)

    See my subject-line, & then, won't you tell us why you "stalked me" here, yet again, then? Who can't "let go" here??

    (Well, we ALL KNOW, that YOU are unable to "let go" of your tiny pecker, but, that's up to you... that is, if you want to go blind & wear the puny thing out... but, lol, to "each his own", lmao!)

    ----

    "You're still squealing two weeks later. :-D" - by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 24, @04:57PM (#29177939)

    Not as bad as YOU do, from pulling that tiny "pencil" of yours so much... WHEN YOU CAN FIND IT, that is, "2 inch"... lol!

    ----

    "You're hilariously stupid." - by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 24, @04:57PM (#29177939)

    Man... Talk about S T U P I D... lol! Yes - Another "good ole' boy" from the "dirty ole' sethern way", talking a big game, ABOUT HIMSELF, but unable to back it up with any proof of his 'braggadocio'... like usual, for "his kind" (the 'not men' in life, & yes, online)!

    APK

    P.S.=> Funny how you OMIT THAT (proof of all your "big talk" in your posts there from the URL I put up above). So - Ever wonder WHY you "boys" lost the Civil War? One look @ YOU, & we KNOW why - you TALK a lot, but have NO PROOF to back it up.

    ("The south shall rise again", yea right... w/ "not man" chumps like the one I am responding to here?? I don't think so - Hell, I KNOW not!)... apk

    1. Re:LMAO, see? Stalked yet again here... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dude, make sure you film it when your head explodes.

      And make sure to have your mom post it to Youtube.

      Have you figured out yet that there are other operating systems out there besides Win32-based ones, and some of those actually allow you to access raw sockets? And amazingly, some of those operating systems really allow you to have the actual source code, so you can make changes yourself, and tweak your hardware drivers, and if you wanted to, to even make your own hardware to do what you want! Amazing! The software world has really advanced in the two weeks since you posted your lament about not being able to access raw sockets. But since you're still in your Momma's basement, still wrapped around the axle over getting bitch-slapped when you started making threats on the internet, you probably missed the amazing advances made in the past two weeks. :-D

    2. Re:LMAO, see? Stalked yet again here... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      PS - You're being mocked, you utter waste of protoplasm, not stalked. It's obvious it still sucks to be you. Big time. Bad enough to suck not just one golf ball but a whole golf bag full of clubs through a garden hose. And probably a golf cart or three, also. You're STILL harping on a two-week-old internet insult that was a response to you making a threat.

      Wow. Two weeks on, and you're still bent out of shape over getting insulted for making a threat. And too damn lame to do anything other than respond with vacuous braggadocio.

      That's hilariously pathetic. Two weeks later, and you can't let go. I guess I must have burned you but GOOD!!!! Are both of your friends still making fun of you over that? Is that why you can't get over it? Has your name on the McDonald's work schedule been replaced with "Bowling Ball Skull"? I bet your dog starts rolling of the floor doing doggie-laughs the first time he sees you each day. Your Mom's parrot now squawks, "Your mouth looks likes a thumb hole! RARRRWK! From your own thumb dick! RARRWK!!!" as soon as he sees you! :-D

      So I'm STILL laughing at you.

      You're the gift that keeps on giving, the dumbass who won't stop advertising, the Energizer Clown.

  126. Re:Most Internet anonymity is used to protect scum by Fex303 · · Score: 1

    The right to speak does not imply the freedom from responsibility.

    Why do you hate America?

  127. "Fashion Institute of Technology"? by mano.m · · Score: 1

    As our robotic overlords often put it - "does not compute".

    --
    Karma fed to this user will be promptly burnt. Be warned; be wary.
  128. Re:Most Internet anonymity is used to protect scum by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The right to speak does not imply the freedom from responsibility.

    freely, however, does.

  129. Re:Most Internet anonymity is used to protect scum by Jeremi · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So sue them and follow it through to a win, don't just deliberately bring a case to the point of removing their anonymity and then drop it.

    What would be the point of doing that? If being able to face my accuser is all I am after, then it's a waste of my time and money to continue the lawsuit once I have attained that goal. Now if I wanted to collect damages, etc, as well, I might continue the lawsuit; but in this case the plaintiff apparently didn't care about that.

    --


    I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
  130. It would have been a very awkward trial... by pclminion · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Having (unfortunately) been involved in a defamation case myself, I think it would have been an awfully interesting trial. In order to be defamation, a statement must 1) be untrue and 2) cause damage to somebody's reputation.

    So what we're talking about here are the words "skank," "ho," and "psychotic." Is calling somebody a skank a statement of fact? We would need a legal definition of what a "skank" is. I figure it would take several days of legal argument just to hash out that part of it. Then, having established the legal definition of a "skank," Ms. Cohen would have to provide at least some evidence that she is not, in fact, a skank (unlike a criminal trial, civil suits are based on a preponderance of the evidence -- if Cohen does not actively defend herself, she loses). So her private sexual life will now become a matter of public record.

    How about "psychotic?" Well, that's certainly something we can prove in court. We'll subject Ms. Cohen to a battery of psychological tests to determine her state of mind. That should certainly be pleasant for her.

    Now, "ho" is a bit more complicated. Does it literally mean "whore," a.k.a. prostitute? We'll need to legally define this as well.

    I think what happened here is that some lawyer with a brain finally clued her in about what exactly would happen in court if she pushed this through. You don't get to just stand there and say "It's not true, poo on you."

  131. "Dude": If I wanted any "$heet" from U? Well, I'd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just squeeze your head... see subject-line above, rinse, lather, & repeat.

    AND?

    Can we have another "frothing @ the mouth episode" from you please, lol...?? They're funny when you do them, ala what I quoted from you in my 1st post here -> http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1345405&cid=29173127 , to which you yet again apparently have "stalked" me to, & admitted it was YOU that posted that (bragging about yourself, but lol, being unable to prove ANY of it, lol, where I could on the points you stressed though, lmao, "oddly enough")... you've got problems/issues, man.

    The main one being able to spout a lot of "I AM SO GREAT" stuff, but not a shred of proof of it on YOUR end, lol, either... typical troll.

    APK

    P.S.=>

    "Have you figured out yet that there are other operating systems out there besides Win32-based ones, and some of those actually allow you to access raw sockets?" - by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 24, @07:51PM (#29179929)

    Yes, & YES... been @ these machines since, oh, 1981 or thereabouts, most all types in-between in fact. But, in response to your 2nd 1/2 of your reply?? See here:

    RAW SOCKETS ACCESS IN WINDOWS CAN BE DONE FOR ADMINISTRATOR USERS:

    ----

    http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms740548(VS.85).aspx

    PERTINENT EXCERPT:

    "only members of the Administrators group can create sockets of type SOCK_RAW on Windows 2000 and later. Anyone can create a raw socket on Windows NT 4.0, but non-Administrators will not be able to do anything with the socket and operations will fail with an error code of WSAEACCES. Windows Me/98, do not impose any limitation on the use of raw sockets."

    Just as I stated... &, I don't need other OS' to access RAW SOCKETS, in Windows, either! I have great documentations from MS that tell me ALL about it, & how to go about it, when/if needed!

    ----

    "And amazingly, some of those operating systems really allow you to have the actual source code, so you can make changes yourself, and tweak your hardware drivers, and if you wanted to, to even make your own hardware to do what you want! Amazing!" - by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 24, @07:51PM (#29179929)

    I can do the same in Windows, & get PAID for it though... filtering drivers too, so I can do exactly what I want from them with the pertinent data involved... layered drivers, filtering drivers, interfaces for ALL KINDS of hardware is there for it, & YOU SEE TONS OF THAT so... "Open Sores" OS' & such? They're neat in the open source thing, but that same thing allows for easier 'hacking/cracking' too, as well as easy fixes, because it's "Open Sores" - much easier to work on in both capacities, than using a 2 system setup & a kernel level debugger (or other types) to disassemble closed source code. That blade? CUTS BOTH WAYS, & this is why.

    ----

    "The software world has really advanced in the two weeks since you posted your lament about not being able to access raw sockets. But since you're still in your Momma's basement, still wrapped around the axle over getting bitch-slapped when you started making threats on the internet, you probably missed the amazing advances made in the past two weeks. :-D" - by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 24, @07:51PM (#29179929)

    Well, I am not the one saying "I am a millionaire/wealthy, & was a nose tackle in college etc. et al" as you have, without a single shred of proof now, am I? In fact, lol, I proved I had done those things myself... whereas you?? YOU HAVE NOTHING... because you are, a nothing/nobody. That's not MY fault... it's yours. Accept it, "drink that in, & digest it", won't you? When reality sets in for you, & you have proofs of your BIG WORDS??? Write us then. Until then? Go away little troll... apk

  132. Are /. ers so dense? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That they don't realize that the reason the model dropped the suit against the *FASHION STUDENT*? It's because even if you won and were given the right to auction off all her worldly possessions, you'd still not have enough money to pay the first week of lawyer's fees. Taking a case to trial against someone who has no money is way more trouble than it's worth.

    Reading these comments is like listening to a bunch of judgmental old ladies clucking their tongues disapprovingly.

  133. Another EPISODE of "As the Mouth Froths..." lol by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "PS - You're being mocked, you utter waste of protoplasm, not stalked." - by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 24, @08:36PM (#29180339)

    Oh, GOODY: We're being treated to another episode of "AS THE MOUTH FROTHS...", lol - for last episode hilites? See the quote below of the "TRUE ANONYMOUS COWARD" (you know, the one who says "I am all that", but has not a shred of backing for a lick of it, lol, below)...

    ----

    "It's obvious it still sucks to be you. Big time. Bad enough to suck not just one golf ball but a whole golf bag full of clubs through a garden hose. " - by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 24, @08:36PM (#29180339)

    Yea, "ok, sure" - @ least I am not the one doing the internet episodes of "geek waanbe angst" ridden failures that say what you did below, & yet, you had not a single shred of proof to substantiate any of it, lol... where I actually DID, even funnier!

    (AND - You called ME stupid?)

    ----

    "You're STILL harping on a two-week-old internet insult that was a response to you making a threat." - by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 24, @08:36PM (#29180339)

    What "threat" is this that "I" supposedly made? I'd like to see that. I'd never do that (@ least not unprovoked), but you surely do, quoted here in fact!

    ----

    "Wow. Two weeks on, and you're still bent out of shape over getting insulted for making a threat." - by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 24, @08:36PM (#29180339)

    Again, what "threat" did I make? I have YOU quoted in making all kinds of weird threats & such directed my way though, right here, as well as you admitting to saying it elsewhere here to me also in this thread... &, you called ME, stupid? LOL, quoting you again:

    http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1337863&cid=29087083 [slashdot.org]

    LAST EPISODE OF "AS THE MOUTH FROTHS..." HILITES (per above, lol):

    "it would be much more likely that I'd wind up squeezing your head hard enough to pop your skull right out through your greasy never-washed hair, and I'd even wager that your skull is thick and heavy enough that I could go bowling with it. Your beady little eyes are probably set just right to be good finger holes, too. And I'm sure your mouth looks just like a thumb hole after your life of sucking thumb sized-dicks. Like your own. And after that I could shit down the bloody stump of your neck, since that's what you seem to want to get from me. I must admit I've never understood scatological fetishists, but whatever floats your boat.... Just to make you feel even more inadequate to go along with your empty threats and irrelevant asinine ranting about raw sockets, I also scored an 800 on my Math Level II SATs. And I currently make well into 6 figures as a software consultant and mostly get to work out of my house, which until the housing bubble burst was worth well over $1 million. Now it'd probably only sell for $800K or so. ... All true. Relatively speaking, between you and me, well, it sucks to be you. It just warms the cockles of my heart to laugh at you and your irrelevant inability to code in Win2K. Because anybody who really wants to can get the hardware needed to send just about any bits you want to over just any wire you'd like, making your "raw socket rant" sound like something coming out of some LSD-inspired UFO fantasy. Dumbass. And not just any dumbass. One dumb enough to advertise." - by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 16, @07:49PM (#29087083)

    Can anyone here say "fruitcake", or "touched"?

    LOL!

    Funniest part is, "Mr. Millionaire" in his own mind only, & "the outstanding jock of the century" in his mind again only, as he offers NO PROOF of any of that above... is that I had proofs to most all of what he states HE is "all about", albeit to MY CR

    1. Re:Another EPISODE of "As the Mouth Froths..." lol by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The voices in your head are not a fan club.

      If you think what you're read is a threat, why don't you grow a pair of balls and take it to a lawyer? Guess what? He'll laugh at you, too. Because all I've done is explain to you what I think would be likely to happen were you to find your way out of your basement and attempt to carry out YOUR threat to "squeeze [my] head".

      Oh, yeah, I've also mocked the hell out of you. Not that you didn't present an easy target. It was like shooting brain-dead fish in a barrel. :-D

      The ONLY threat communicated in this entire exchange comes from YOU: "squeeze your head". All your inane ranting otherwise can't undo the fact that YOU communcated a threat. Not me. YOU. And ONLY YOU.

      Everything I've posted has been my opinion of what would likely happen were you to actually attempt to carry out YOUR threat of violence. I would defend myself, and you'd get your butt kicked.

      You're awfully insecure, aren't you? "Look how big I can PROVE my dick is!" That's all you're posting - and that's not "proof" of anything other than your brain is still vapor-locked over getting insulted in response to your making a threat.

      You're too dumb to realize you're dumb. You make threats, then keep reposting my explanation of what would likely happen were YOU to attempt to carry out YOUR threat.

      So, go on. Keep reposting responses to YOUR threat. Because if you really are who you say you are, you've just laid down quite the record of being a total nut case. That'll do wonders for your future employment prospects. Then again, the circus pretty much always needs clowns... :-D

  134. Liskula could outsourced to India Police, cheaper? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Liskula Cohen could have saved thousands of dollars by "outsourcing" all this to India. India Police (Cyber Crime) may not be exactly a private investigator, and they may have done that kind of thing for "extra credits", but I'm speaking of known situations here. In one case bloggers based outside India bad-mouthed the products/services offered by a private party, also based outside India. The private party had an Indian affiliate who complained to India Police (that is all we know, anything else remains hidden). India Police then (eagerly, surprise surprise!) requested Google for IP records. Google's Legal Investigation Support team (Google LIS) supplied the blogger IP records (under Section 91 of India Criminal Procedure Code), hardly any questions asked (surprise?, surprise?). The bloggers were not even based in India. India Police handed the IPs to the private party (mission accomplished). The bloggers were then harassed through a SLAPP-style suit tailored to force favorable settlements.

    So all that Liskulla needed was to go through an India outfit, get those India cybercops a little excited (remember that police malfeasance is already a big issue in India).

    Note: I am not actually suggesting that anybody take that route. I'm just alerting you all to the dangers of this, in public interest.

    Summary: India Police has rights over your IP records, and they are eager to ask for it. And Google obliges them. And you think you have free speech.

    I am of course, an Anonymous Coward.

  135. Re:Most Internet anonymity is used to protect scum by PhilHibbs · · Score: 1

    OK, so long as that is made plain at the outset. If the judge decides that purely unmasking a presumed-innocent person is a legitimate use of the court system, then you can proceed.

  136. Re:"Dude": If I wanted any "$heet" from U? Well, I by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wow, you think posting to Slashdot constitutes "proof".

    You get more laughable with every post.

  137. Blowhard - go away now, blowhard the troll... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Wow, you think posting to Slashdot constitutes "proof"." - by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 25, @05:09AM (#29183667)

    You are more than welcome to verify other things I used (written publications I have appeared in, in this art & science (computing)), here -> http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1337863&cid=29089743 if you wish.

    Thus - I don't see why using postings @ /. here is any different than anything else though. The written word is just that - written, for all to see/verify, & PROOF of my appearances in respected publications such as Windows IT Pro magazine are in posts here @ /., such as the one above I just put down.

    ----

    "You get more laughable with every post" - by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 25, @05:09AM (#29183667)

    NewsFlash: You've ALWAYS been laughable... @ least you're consistent.

    APK

    P.S.=> BY the way, got any PROOF yet, of these "BIG WORDS" of yours? Quoting you again now, to "refresh your memory":

    "it would be much more likely that I'd wind up squeezing your head hard enough to pop your skull right out through your greasy never-washed hair, and I'd even wager that your skull is thick and heavy enough that I could go bowling with it. Your beady little eyes are probably set just right to be good finger holes, too. And I'm sure your mouth looks just like a thumb hole after your life of sucking thumb sized-dicks. Like your own. And after that I could shit down the bloody stump of your neck, since that's what you seem to want to get from me. I must admit I've never understood scatological fetishists, but whatever floats your boat.... Just to make you feel even more inadequate to go along with your empty threats and irrelevant asinine ranting about raw sockets, I also scored an 800 on my Math Level II SATs. And I currently make well into 6 figures as a software consultant and mostly get to work out of my house, which until the housing bubble burst was worth well over $1 million. Now it'd probably only sell for $800K or so. ... All true. Relatively speaking, between you and me, well, it sucks to be you. It just warms the cockles of my heart to laugh at you and your irrelevant inability to code in Win2K. Because anybody who really wants to can get the hardware needed to send just about any bits you want to over just any wire you'd like, making your "raw socket rant" sound like something coming out of some LSD-inspired UFO fantasy. Dumbass. And not just any dumbass. One dumb enough to advertise." - by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 16, @07:49PM (#29087083)

    Prove you have that million dollar home. Prove you have a software consultancy. Prove you did well in sports and where in college. Prove the things you said above there... won't you? You can't... & that, fool, makes you NOTHING MORE THAN A BLOWHARD... henceforth, your NEW /. Nick here ought to be "blowhard the troll", lol, per my subject-line above! apk

  138. Blowhard, prove what you said about yourself... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ahem: Again - BY the way, got any PROOF yet, of these "BIG WORDS" of yours? Quoting you again now, to "refresh your memory":

    "it would be much more likely that I'd wind up squeezing your head hard enough to pop your skull right out through your greasy never-washed hair, and I'd even wager that your skull is thick and heavy enough that I could go bowling with it. Your beady little eyes are probably set just right to be good finger holes, too. And I'm sure your mouth looks just like a thumb hole after your life of sucking thumb sized-dicks. Like your own. And after that I could shit down the bloody stump of your neck, since that's what you seem to want to get from me. I must admit I've never understood scatological fetishists, but whatever floats your boat.... Just to make you feel even more inadequate to go along with your empty threats and irrelevant asinine ranting about raw sockets, I also scored an 800 on my Math Level II SATs. And I currently make well into 6 figures as a software consultant and mostly get to work out of my house, which until the housing bubble burst was worth well over $1 million. Now it'd probably only sell for $800K or so. ... All true. Relatively speaking, between you and me, well, it sucks to be you. It just warms the cockles of my heart to laugh at you and your irrelevant inability to code in Win2K. Because anybody who really wants to can get the hardware needed to send just about any bits you want to over just any wire you'd like, making your "raw socket rant" sound like something coming out of some LSD-inspired UFO fantasy. Dumbass. And not just any dumbass. One dumb enough to advertise." - by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 16, @07:49PM (#29087083)

    Prove you have that million dollar home. Prove you have a software consultancy. Prove you did well in sports and where in college. Prove the things you said above there... won't you? You can't... & that, fool, makes you NOTHING MORE THAN A BLOWHARD...

    Can I do that though? SURE, just like I did here -> http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1337863&cid=29089743 & once more here, to "refresh your memory":

    ----

    "My Name is Ozymandias: King of Kings - Look upon my works, ye mighty, & DESPAIR..."

    Windows NT Magazine (now Windows IT Pro) April 1997 "BACK OFFICE PERFORMANCE" issue, page 61

    (&, for work done for EEC Systems/SuperSpeed.com on PAID CONTRACT (writing portions of their SuperCache program increasing its performance by up to 40% via my work) albeit, for their SuperDisk & HOW TO APPLY IT, took them to a finalist position @ MS Tech Ed, two years in a row).

    WINDOWS MAGAZINE, 1997, "Top Freeware & Shareware of the Year" issue page 210, #1/first entry in fact (my work is there)

    PC-WELT FEB 1998 - page 84, again, my work is featured there

    WINDOWS MAGAZINE, WINTER 1998 - page 92, insert section, MUST HAVE WARES, my work is again, there

    PC-WELT FEB 1999 - page 83, again, my work is featured there

    CHIP Magazine 7/99 - page 100, my work is there

    GERMAN PC BOOK, Data Becker publisher "PC Aufrusten und Repairen" 2000, where my work is contained in it

    HOT SHAREWARE Numero 46 issue, pg. 54 (PC ware mag from Spain), 2001 my work is there, first one featured, yet again!

    Also, a British PC Mag in 2002 for many utilities I wrote, saw it @ BORDERS BOOKS but didn't buy it... by that point, I had moved onto other areas in this field besides coding only...

    Lastly, being paid for an article that made me money over @ PCPitstop in 2008 for writing up a guide that has people showing NO VIRUSES/SPYWARES & other screwups, via following its point, such as THRONKA sees here -> http://www.xtre

  139. Re:Most Internet anonymity is used to protect scum by Rogerborg · · Score: 1

    It's OK, most other posters didn't bother to check the New York laws on defamation either, so you're only averagely retarded for posting how you think some hypothetical law should work in a hypothetical jurisdiction.

    --
    If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
  140. Somewhat by davidwr · · Score: 1

    Not exactly, but somewhat.

    Plan A, using special master:

    Plaintiff wants to sue unknown defendant. Plaintiff sues Google to unmask John Doe. Court orders Google to turn identity over to special master. Google sues John Doe. Special master serves papers on John Doe. John Doe petitions court for immediate dismissal for any valid reason, including that original subpeona should never have been granted; for permission to remain anonymous; or a gag order on the Plaintiff.

    Plan B using "firewalled" lawyer paid for by plaintiff: Similar to above.

    Plan C, gag order:

    Plaintiff wants to sue unknown defendant. Plaintiff sues Google. Judge issuing subpeona puts a gag order on Google with a recommendation to the eventual trial judge to lift it only if doing so is in the public interest. Google gets identity and does or does not proceed with lawsuit. Ideally, judge issuing subpeona notifies the target of the subpeona.

    I didn't say so, but in non-emergency situations the actual target of the subpeona should be notified before it is issued and be given a chance to fight it.

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
  141. Re:Most Internet anonymity is used to protect scum by RingDev · · Score: 1

    Ahh, I should have put that limitation on my post.

    I have no distinct knowledge of New York state laws. But in the state of Wisconsin, the above statement would not meet the requirements for libel.

    As I have learned first hand. Although, in my case, they phrase was "She couldn't teach a 2 year old to crap itself" in regards to a social studies teacher at Herzing College in Madison, WI.

    -Rick

    --
    "Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
  142. Been there by hrimhari · · Score: 1
    --
    http://dilbert.com/2010-12-13
  143. Hey blowhard, since you ran? Take a read... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Very quickly you learn how many ways people can misunderstand what you're saying, and how your foes intentionally misinterpret what you write" - by timeOday (582209) on Friday August 28, @12:34PM (#29232401)

    That quote's from today's article "We're In the Midst of a Literacy Revolution" -> http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1350875&cid=29232401

    (Apparently not, @ least NOT in the "good ole' south", eh?)

    "You're still bent out of shape over getting insulted for making a threat." - by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 24, @08:36PM (#29180339)

    Well, I'm NOT the one who 'frothed & foamed' @ the mouth, & said he was "all that" (a millionaire, head of some b.s. 'computer consultancy', or a star jock - but, funny part was, I could show that I was more than a few of those things myself... so, how come YOU cannot prove you are, and you ran?)

    AND??

    I am not the one trying to "save face", with a blatantly intentional misinterpretation of my joke either (which you are doing clearly, because the turn of a phrase I used is a COMMON one, no less, in my stating "If I wanted any of your shit, I'd squeeze your head", lol...).

    Man, you are DUMB as a BOX OF ROCKS... no questions asked. I say that, because a dunce like you thinks he can "fool others"... no dice.

    Either learn to read, or quit trying to "pull the wool over everyone's eyes", you blowhard braggart - & you STILL can't back up all your b.s., now can you? Nope. However, again: Funny how I was able to do so, on the very grounds YOU "raved on", no less!

    (Figures you ran as you did... Man, you truly are stupid. You think people are stupid, like you, blowhard - not around here, wrong door...).

    APK

    P.S.=> Nice to see you RUN, "beyotch"... lol! Truth is - I have never, in over 16++ yrs. online, EVER seen a punk blowhard, quite like you... ever! Serves you right, you blowhard coward... run! apk