New decision on Internet anonymity

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Paul Levy" <plevy () citizen org>
Date: October 25, 2007 1:59:47 PM EDT
To: <dave () farber net>
Subject: New decision on Internet anonymity

A judge on New York’s Supreme Court has dismissed a petition by
Lawrence, New York school board member Pamela Greenbaum seeking to
identify the blogger “Orthomom,” whose criticisms of some of
Greenbaum’s decisions had sparked others to post claims that Greenbaum
was a “bigot” and an “anti-semite.”  The decision is fairly
narrow and cautious, but puts New York squarely in the middle of the
national consensus approach to such cases that requires would-be
plaintiffs to show the Court that they have a reasonable chance of
winning the case before the right to speak anonymously is breached.

Paul Alan Levy
Public Citizen Litigation Group
1600 - 20th Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20009
(202) 588-1000
http://www.citizen.org/litigation

> > > Amanda Long 10/25/2007 1:52 PM >>>
For Immediate Release:                     Contact: Amanda Long (202)
588-7703
Oct. 25, 2007                                                   Rachel
Pleatman (202) 588-7742

School Board Member Gets a Lesson in First Amendment Rights

Petition to Identify Anonymous Blogger Dismissed in Public Citizen
Victory

WASHINGTON, D.C. - In a big win for the First Amendment rights of
bloggers, New York Supreme Court Justice Marcy Friedman late yesterday
upheld the right to speak anonymously and dismissed a petition by a
Lawrence, N.Y., school board member to identify an anonymous blogger.

Upholding arguments made by Public Citizen, which represented the
blogger, the court decided that the statements on the Orthomom blog were
not actionable, in some respects because statements were opinion and in
others because the statements were true. The ruling applied a balancing
test that protects the right to speak anonymously online so long as the
speech does not violate the plaintiffs rights. Public Citizen
established the test in a landmark 2001 New Jersey appellate decision,
Dendrite International v. Doe.

The plaintiff, Pamela Greenbaum of Lawrence, N.Y., sought a court order
requiring Google, which hosts the blog www.orthomom.blogspot.com , to
reveal Orthomoms identity. The petition asserts that the blogger
Orthomom, and others who posted comments on her blog, had accused
Greenbaum of being a bigot and implied that she was anti-Semitic because
of her position against using public school facilities and teachers for
educational services that benefit children attending private religious
schools.

Friedman, however, ruled that Orthomon's discussion of Greenbaum's
votes were not implicit accusations of anti-Semitism, and that the
comments posted by others who did use those words were only expressing
their opinions, which cannot be the basis for a libel suit. The court
agreed that an accusation of perjury can be defamatory but rejected the
petition based on evidence that Orthomoms claim that Greenbaum made
false statements was incontrovertibly true.

Because Greenbaum's petition was so clearly lacking in merit, Friedman
found it unnecessary to decide whether to adopt the Dendrite approach in
its entirety, but described it as persuasive authority.

"This decision echoes the emerging national consensus approach to
protecting anonymous speech online," said Paul Alan Levy, lead counsel
for Orthomom.

Local counsel for Orthomom is Donald Rosenthal of Hartman and Craven in
New York.

To read the decision, go to
www.citizen.org/litigation/forms/cases/CaseDetails.cfm?cID=390 .




-------------------------------------------
Archives: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now
RSS Feed: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/
Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com