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Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Ohio Blog Sued By School Principal: Toledo Lawsuit Tackles Anonymous Comments

TOLEDO (TDB) -- SwampBubbles is now caught up in a legal fray that could test whether anonymous commenters on Ohio's blogs can hide their identities. And the lawsuit is likely to give consolation to targets who think they have been defamed and victimized by false statements. The blogosphere can be -- and often is -- a no-holds-barred environment. It is common practice for people to leave anonymous comments. They might suspect there is no trail back to the source. But there is a trail, and it can lead to trouble. Reconstructing the trail might be difficult, -- it can wind through out-of-state Internet service providers and other pit stops on the digital highway -- but it can be traced.

That trail and where it leads seems at the heart of a legal action over anonymous website comments that Leverette Junior High School Principal Steven Riddle considers defamatory. Riddle went to court over postings related to a sexual battery incident involving the arrest of a school employee last November. SwampBubbles is a community blog that covers news, politics and public affairs in NW Ohio. LisaRenee Ward at GlassCityJungle in Toledo has more about the legal fray in Lucas County.

This is the latest flap. Last September, a Republican Wood County Commissioner in Bowling Green was outed as a gay man by an anonymous comment left on Jeff Coryell's Ohio Daily Blog. It was a strategic leak designed to foreclose a bid for Congress in OH-05; there was no court action.

Now, the school principal's lawsuit before Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Gary Cook has LisaRenee musing about anonymous comments. She has concerns. Indeed, the lawsuit probably brings up an issue that needs to be aired: What is fair, and fair game for comment?

At The Daily Bellwether, I kept the comment moderation switch on for months, and limited comments because "anonymous" just made me feel uncomfortable. Then I switched to unmoderated last September and have allowed anybody say anything they wanted -- anonymous or not. In the past few days, I've been growing uneasy about some of the back-and-forth over the OH-02 Democratic primary. There have been some harsh attacks against Steve Black and Vic Wulsin written by "anonymous" people. Now, with lawsuits in the air -- and the courts unlikely to protect anonymous character assassination and assassins who use the Ohiosphere for their attacks -- the time may have come to flip the comment moderation switch on again.

Or, The Bellwether could say that it would vow never to reveal any information ever. That vow clearly would be impossible to keep. A court could order computers seized; it could order Blogger to give up data; it could pry open the browsers. There may be free speech on the Internet, but there may not be any cloak of anonymity for those doing the speaking. The Toledo lawsuit is probably going to make that a lot more clear in the months ahead.

8 comments:

  1. .

    Sloat must be protecting the wRong wingnut whackos !

    He must not know that the wRong wingnut whackos already lost this battle:

    Hamilton County Republican Party .com

    Political speech is protected and at no time has the 'black mole' responded or denied, although given the opportunity before your postings !

    As you know, courts have already protected and excluded service providers and blogs !

    The 'truth' is also an affirmative defense !

    An elected politician (or those wishing to be in that arena) is hardly an employed school principal.

    So, billy, just whom are you weakly attempting to protect ?

    PATHETIC Speech Suppression !

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  2. .
    "...I've been growing uneasy about some of the back-and-forth over the OH-02 Democratic primary. There have been some harsh attacks against Steve Black and Vic Wulsin written by "anonymous" people. Now, with lawsuits in the air -- and the courts unlikely to protect anonymous character assassination and assassins who use the Ohiosphere for their attacks -- the time may have come to flip the comment moderation switch on again...."

    Have you been threatened by someone due to blogger posts ?

    Are you attempting to intimidate bloggers with the threat of IP release ?

    How is turning on the moderator going to keep a court order from being served ?

    Would turning on the moderator help to suppress speech ?

    Anybody can sue anybody. That doesn't mean they will prevail !

    Did you even, in the least, investigate the litigation history on the Right to Speak Anonymous ?

    Lettuce (subsidized of course) give you some assistance:

    Public Citizen !

    http://www.citizen.org/litigation/briefs/IntFreeSpch/cases/


    .

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  3. .


    tWhat ?

    Why you dirty little rat !


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  4. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  5. Regarding case above, the principal dropped the suit as of this November. Check out the Lucas County Docket Cases.

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    Replies
    1. Right, He dropped the suit becuase the accusations were the truth and sure enough finally in 2009 Riddle was caught sexting a minor - things that he was accused of before but people did not listen.

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