[ECP] Motion Won to Protect Identity of Anonymous Web Site Operator
- From: Educational CyberPlayGround <admin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: nethappenings@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2007 05:00:00 -0500
¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤,¸¸,ø¤º
Please link to the Educational CyberPlayGround
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com
Add your SCHOOL OR SCHOOL DISTRICT URL
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/schools/
Please Share and Add Your Song
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/ncfr/
Educatonal CyberPlayGround NetHappenings Mailing List ©1993
¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤,¸¸,ø¤º
PUBLIC CITIZEN PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: Contact: Greg Beck (202) 588-7713
Jan. 19, 2007 Robert
Yule (202) 588-7703
Public Citizen Wins Motion to Protect Identity of Anonymous Web Site
Operator
Massachusetts Real Estate Developer Cannot Unmask Online Critic in
Arizona Court
WASHINGTON, D.C. - In an affirmation of First Amendment rights on the
Internet, the Superior Court of Arizona in Maricopa County ruled on
Thursday against a Massachusetts real estate developer's attempt to
obtain the identity of the operator of a critical Web site after a
similar lawsuit had already been dismissed in another state.
The court held that prior to allowing plaintiffs to discover the
identity of online critics, they must first show that their interest
outweighs the speakers' constitutional right to anonymous speech. It
joined a growing national consensus in holding that a plaintiff must
present evidence of wrongdoing before a speaker's First Amendment
right to anonymity can be violated.
The case, filed in the Superior Court of Arizona in Maricopa County,
was the second attempt by plaintiff Paul McMann to obtain a subpoena
to learn the identity of defendant John Doe, an anonymous Web critic
who maintains a site about McMann at http://www.paulmcmann.com/. Doe
created the site after a negative business transaction with McMann
and invited others to share similar experiences by posting on a
message board. The site includes a warning about doing business with
McMann and a list of businesses registered in his name.
Seeking to unveil Doe's identity, McMann sent a subpoena to GoDaddy
and Domains by Proxy, the companies responsible for registering and
hosting the Web site. The U.S. District Court for the District of
Massachusetts in October 2006 dismissed McMann's first attempt to
learn Doe's identity, finding that he did not have any legitimate
claim for defamation, invasion of privacy or copyright infringement.
The Arizona court issued a similar ruling, quashing the subpoena to
GoDaddy and dismissing the case.
"This victory is a win for the First Amendment right of free speech
on the Internet," said Greg Beck, an attorney for Public Citizen,
which defended Doe. "The court correctly recognized that people's
right to speak anonymously online should not be violated without good
cause."
Phoenix attorney Louis Hoffman of Hoffman & Zur was local counsel for
Doe.
To read the court's decision, visit http://www.citizen.org/documents/
mcmannvdoearizopin.pdf.
To read Public Citizen's motion, visit http://www.citizen.org/
documents/mcmannmemo.pdf.
Public Citizen has a record of defending the First Amendment rights
of Internet users. To learn more, visit http://www.citizen.org/
litigation/briefs/IntFreeSpch/.
###
Public Citizen is a national, nonprofit consumer advocacy
organization based in Washington, D.C. For more information, please
see http://www.citizen.org.
<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>
Educational CyberPlayGround NetHappenings Mailing List ©1993
NetHappenings: the largest and oldest K12 Education Mailing List
Email Preferences -- Subscribe - Unsubscribe - Digest
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Community/NetHappenings.html
Copyright FAIR USE Statements to be included when reproducing
annotations from NetHappenings.
The single phrase below is the copyright notice to be used when
reproducing any portion of this report, in any format:
EDUCATIONAL CYBERPLAYGROUND http://www.edu-cyberpg.com
NetHappenings copyright
<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>
Other related posts:
- » [ECP] Motion Won to Protect Identity of Anonymous Web Site Operator
