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Accused Killer Asks For Online Media Users' IDs

Posted by timothy on from the who's-poisoned-which-well dept.

SpaceGhost writes "According to the Houston Chronicle, the attorney for a Texas man charged in the death of a four-year-old 'has asked several local media outlets to provide the names of readers and listeners who commented about his client online,' stating that his client 'was struck by the conclusions people drew about his client and the specificity of some comments that made it appear they came from people with personal knowledge of the case.' Media outlets who have been subpoenaed include The Houston Chronicle, the Conroe Courier, KHOU (Houston area Channel 11, CBS affiliate) and KTRK (Houston area Channel 13, ABC affiliate)."

14 of 149 comments (clear)

  1. Not like we didn't know this was coming... by Lord+Kano · · Score: 5, Informative

    That stupid skank whore in New York got a court to force Google to give up the ID of someone who hurt her feelings and now everyone will use that precedent to do the same.

    LK

    --
    "Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
    1. Re:Not like we didn't know this was coming... by Nerdfest · · Score: 5, Funny

      Here a link to a related story about suing Google. Interestingly, I actually got the link by Googling "stupid skank got google to release user information court case". Man, I really love Google sometimes.

    2. Re:Not like we didn't know this was coming... by betterunixthanunix · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Two things that case screams to me:
      1. Not really the same issue that we are seeing here.
      2. If you want anonymity, STAY AWAY from blogging services, and more generally, stay away from the web. If you really have to use the web (i.e. because it is more popular than an anonymity-friendly system like Usenet), use a damned proxy server from a different jurisdiction.
      --
      Palm trees and 8
    3. Re:Not like we didn't know this was coming... by Capsaicin · · Score: 4, Informative

      The all the slander and attorney lawyers in the world can not touch you unless they can prove that at the exact time you expressed your opinion it was not in fact your true opinion but that you lied about it and falsely expressed your opinion in order to slander someone.

      Speaking as a lawyer, I would caution against presuming this is sufficient, to protect yourself against "all the slander and attorney lawyers in the world."

      In my jurisdiction, for instance, 'truth' (by itself) has only been a defence to defmation since 1 January 2006 (and this was, IMHO, a very poorly thought out 'reform'). Prior to that you were required to show more (eg. truth + public interest). In much of the common law word (eg UK) this is still the case. I believe that throughout most of the world, whether the defamatory publication is an honestly held opinion, is not relevant. The question is whether the 'imputation' is defamatory, and whether it is true (and, jurisdicition depending, more than merely true).

      As I understand it, even in the US, the principle in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, requiring actual malice to be shown, applies only to public officials. Or do you have any better (more recent) authority which suggests otherwise?

      You might find lawyers more of a threat than you imagine. ;)

      --
      Better to be despised for too anxious apprehensions, than ruined by too confident a security. --Edmund Burke
  2. Most of the comments on local news sties.... by Doug52392 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Most of the comments in an article about a man who killed a four-year-old on local news websites would most likely be along the lines of "OMG THIS SICK FUCK DOESN'T EVEN DESERVE A TRIAL! JUST SHOOT HIM!"... ... At least that's the trend I notice on local news sites in my area.

    1. Re:Most of the comments on local news sties.... by guyminuslife · · Score: 5, Funny

      Actually, in Texas, we call that due process.

      --
      I don't believe in time. It's a grand conspiracy designed to sell watches.
    2. Re:Most of the comments on local news sties.... by joocemann · · Score: 5, Informative

      Actually, in Texas, we call that due process.

      Slashdot mods you 'Funny'.

      Texans mod you "Informative"

    3. Re:Most of the comments on local news sties.... by moosesocks · · Score: 5, Interesting

      You're joking, but it's slowly coming to light that Texas almost definitely executed an innocent man in 2004.

      At the time of his execution, numerous petitions containing exonerating evidence had been filed, and were ignored.

      With any luck, this case will have far-reaching implications. At the very least, the judges and governor need to be put on trial for negligent homicide.

      --
      -- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose
  3. A great day in history by physicsphairy · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm pretty sure this is the first time people on the internet have ever been accused of disseminating overly-substantial and accurate information.

    But I wonder why this guy did not subpoena the names of any youtube commenters? :/

    --
    When things get complex, multiply by the complex conjugate.
  4. sigh by wizardforce · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Those who comment generally use pseudonyms, and the lawyer has asked for identifying information on about 300 of them.

    how many people would have ersonal knowledge of the case? probably no where near 300 so they're implying that a smaller number of people went out of their way to voice their opinion about the guy. It seems however, that they are on a fishing expedition with suspicions but no evidence at least indicated by TFA.

    --
    Sigs are too short to say anything truly profound so read the above post instead.
  5. Re:Okay... by Runaway1956 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's just the standard fishing expedition. The defense doesn't HAVE a defense, so they are trying to confuse the issues. Notice that they don't name just a single paper, or a specific number of users or posts. It's a broad sweep with a huge net, meant to pull in a lot of material that will have maximum confusion value.

    --
    "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
  6. Re:Okay... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    I believe I read this on ./ at some point, and it nails this nicely.

    If the facts are against you, bang on the law. If the law is against you, bang on the facts. If both are against you, bang on the table.

    It appears they are banging on the table.

  7. Re:Okay... by DoofusOfDeath · · Score: 5, Funny

    SELECT * FROM tbl_Comments
    WHERE userid LIKE '%CHEWBACCA%';

  8. banging on the table by captnbmoore · · Score: 4, Funny

    He's trying to not be banged on the table.

    --
    The Navy Motto "IF it ain't broke Fix It" "A day is wasted if you don't learn something new"