Judge Rules Web Commenter Will Be Unmasked To Mom

LegalReader writes "An Illinois judge has decided that an anonymous commenter on a newspaper website will be unmasked, even though the mother of a teen about whom 'Hipcheck16' allegedly made 'deeply disturbing' comments hasn't yet decided whether to sue over the posting."

Comments

Re:Hip Check

[hyades1]

It's a hockey term, actually. I imagine roller derby appropriated it because it's basically the same kind of hit. In hockey, though, you can get much better arc on your opponent if you catch them just right.

Re:When will some people learn...

[MichaelSmith]

... that theres really no such thing as anonymity online. If someone wants to find out who you are then eventually they will.

I could...

• Steal wifi
• Pay cash at an internet cafe
• Use free wifi at McDonalds etc
• Use an anonymous computer at work
• Use tor or a proxy

Re:The judge seems to be entirely right

[Anonymous Coward]

This is surely the correct decision. In order to decide whether to sue, the mother needs to know who she might be suing.

No, she doesn't. You file against John Doe and then enter a process to discover the name.

If the poster is autistic, disturbed or perhaps already in the court system for other offenses, the mother might decide to leave well alone. If the only way that she can obtain the identity is to file a suit, then there is no escape from legal proceedings.

No, there is an escape - you drop the case. It's not hard. You file a motion to dismiss, the defense agrees, laywers get their fees, everyone goes home.

PS - Nice way to slam sufferers of autism.

Re:If he did, he would be wrong

[RiotingPacifist]

If you make prank phone calls (even blocking caller ID), the phone company can be made to hand over your phone number & details

I don't think this should be the norm (you can't normally get somebody phoning you named), but i don't see why the internet should be any different.

or to meme it up for you:
Libellous comment is libellous
Threatening comment is threatening
Harassing comment is harassing

Re:The judge seems to be entirely right

[bdenton42]

This is the "end" of a chain of lawsuits. The court has already ordered the newspaper to release the guy's IP address, and they did. The court has already ordered Comcast to release the identity of the guy who was using that IP address and they did.

So the court knows who the guy is and the guy is represented by a lawyer. She can go ahead and sue 'John Doe' based on the information the court already possesses if she really thinks she has a case. There is really no reason for the mother to know the guys identity other than to personally harrass him (presumably as this was a debate over a local election the guy lives in her district).

Think of the Children

[CrashNBrn]

"I'm determined that there will be protection on the Internet," particularly for children, said Stone, who was elected in April.
The man posted "deeply disturbing" comments to her son in the aftermath of a bruising election battle, Stone said,
...
At one point, the teen asked to know the poster's identity and challenged him to debate the issues in person.

Declining an invitation to pay a visit, Hipcheck16 posted a response that said, according to court documents, "Seems like you're very willing to invite a man you only know from the Internet over to your house -- have you done it before, or do they usually invite you to their house?"

So the deeply disturbing comments appear to be a teasing double-entendre. That Hipcheck16 may get sued over as the boy has a recently elected parent whom will get kudos for Thinking of the children.

My virgin ears (eyes?) I'm forever scarred.

Re:Maybe the 15 year old is a momma's boy

[lupinstel]

The crust of most dog breads are a bit too ruff for me; I prefer beagles and cream cheese.

TFA sucks

[the pickle]

http://www.citmedialaw.org/blog/2009/hipcheck16-no-turk-182-anonymous-political-speech-sacred

is much better -- it's written by actual legal scholars and discusses what the specific "deeply disturbing" comments were. Sometimes the hometown major newspaper isn't actually the best place to get articles, Slashdot.

p