EFF: Law Firm Shows Ignorance of the Law in Anonymous Emailer Case

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: EFF Press <press () eff org>
Organization: Electronic Frontier Foundation
Reply-To: <press () eff org>
Date: Thu, 21 Apr 2005 14:13:53 -0700
To: <presslist () eff org>
Subject: [E-B] EFF: Law Firm Shows Ignorance of the Law in Anonymous Emailer
Case

Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release

For Immediate Release: Thursday, April 21, 2005

Contact:

Kurt Opsahl
   Staff Attorney
   Electronic Frontier Foundation
   kurt () eff org
   +1 415 436 9333 x106

Law Firm Shows Ignorance of the Law in Anonymous Emailer
Case

EFF Sends Letter of Protest to Shearman & Sterling Over
Subpoena to Craigslist

San Francisco, CA - When an employee of San Francisco law
firm Shearman & Sterling received an email from an
anonymous person who seemed to be a disgruntled
subordinate, he didn't hit the delete button. Instead, his
firm subpoenaed craigslist, a community bulletin board
where the email first appeared as a posting, in order to
discover the identity of the "Jane Doe."

The firm justified its actions by arguing that the alleged
employee's email was a form of  "trespass" on Shearman's
computer systems. The implication of this claim is
far-reaching. Contradicting binding precedent, Shearman
proposes a rule that would mean anyone who sends an email
faces legal liability. It would allow email recipients to
track down anonymous correspondents simply to punish them
for  being annoying or offensive.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has written an
open letter to Shearman urging it to drop the subpoena.
"The Constitution does not permit subpoenas for identity
just because someone was upset," said EFF staff attorney
Kurt Opsahl. "While it is unfortunate that a Shearman
employee received an offensive email message, Shearman
cannot manufacture a cause of action out of thin air just
so it can unmask an anonymous speaker."

In its letter, EFF reminds Shearman of the long tradition
of US courts protecting anonymous speech, and argues that
the law firm has demonstrated no legal cause of action
because it did not show how receiving a single email
message caused harm. Indeed, the California Supreme Court
ruled two years ago that sending an email is not a form of
trespass (see Intel v. Hamidi).

Open letter:
http://www.eff.org/Privacy/Anonymity/OpenLetterShearman.pdf

More information on Intel v. Hamidi:
http://www.eff.org/spam/Intel_v_Hamidi/

For this release:
http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2005_04.php#003514

About EFF

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil
liberties organization working to protect rights in the
digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and
challenges industry and government to support free
expression and privacy online. EFF is a member-supported
organization and maintains one of the most linked-to
websites in the world at http://www.eff.org/


     -end-

_______________________________________________
presslist mailing list
https://pigeon.eff.org/mailman/listinfo/presslist

------ End of Forwarded Message


-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as lists-ip () insecure org
To manage your subscription, go to
  http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip

Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/