Anonymous bloggers and commentators have First Amendment rights. So says a New York Supreme Court, which issued an order denying a plaintiff’s request to unmask the identity of an anonymous blogger and anonymous commentators.
In Pamela Greenbaum v. Google, Inc. d/b/a Blogger and Blogspot.com, a school board member had been called a “bigot” by anonymous person(s) on the Orthomom blog. She sued for defamation and asked the Court to order Google to reveal the identity of Orthomom and the anonymous commentator(s). The Court ruled that comments calling plaintiff a bigot in connection with her positions on public school spending were protected speech and not defamatory. The case was dismissed.
Justice Marcy Freedman wrote:
Courts elsewhere have repeatedly recognized that the First Amendment protects the right to participate in online forums anonymously or under a pseudonym, and that anonymous speech can foster the free and diverse exchange of ideas. (citations omitted) (emphasis added)
Read the entire Court Decision/Order here.
We advocate free speech in blogs. We allow anonymous comments (heck, you can comment using your dog’s name) and do not censor negative comments. We do not blacklist people. We are interested in your ideas and your ability to defend them, not in your identity. We even offer our soapbox to those who do not have one. But there are blogs that whitewash the conversation by censoring comments and blacklisting dissidents. (One will blacklist you for a single negative comment.) Some will not protect, nor even recognize, a commentator’s right be be anonymous (calling it cowardice). If you’re blogging for business, we can understand the practice (though we disagree with it). But any blog that purports to speak on national issues and engages in these practices needs to be fitted for a black shirt. Just our opinion.
When we give thanks for all we have, let us also give thanks for our freedoms, which, if not protected, are taken away. God Bless America and freedom of speech.
Technorati Tags: blog, free speech, anonymous comment, new york, supreme court, blacklist, censor
