Out-Law News 1 min. read
09 Feb 2001, 12:00 am
Rural/Metro Corporation, a provider of contract fire and ambulance services based in Arizona, served a legal demand on Yahoo! to obtain the identity of four people who have posted anonymous messages on Yahoo!’s message board devoted to discussions about Rural/Metro.
The demand claims the subscribers may be current or former employees whose messages contained grounds for legal action, but the company failed to refer to the contents of any particular message or show how any of the postings might justify such an action. Rural/Metro’s lawyer stated “It’s a case about people making false statements and leaking confidential information on these bulletin boards”.
The civil liberties groups claim that the company’s attempt to reveal the identities of the individuals will intimidate critics and inappropriately silence anonymous speech, which is protected by the US Constitution.
The groups argue that the court should adopt the same test currently used to determine whether to compel identification of anonymous sources in a libel case. Using that test, the court would have to determine that the party bringing the claim (Rural/Metro) has a valid claim and the court would balance the potential harm to the anonymous speaker in revealing its identity against the claimant’s need to discover the identity of the speaker.
“Anonymous speech has been protected in this country since the writing of the Federalist Papers. If the courts do not step in to protect this cherished right in cyberspace, we will lose it” said Lauren Gelman, Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Director of Public Policy.
Nicole Berner, lawyer for the Liberty Project stated “Our hope is that the court in this case will set a standard according to which internet service providers and others will be able to determine when it is and isn’t appropriate to disclose information that may lead to the identity of an anonymous speaker”.
Yahoo! have issued no official comment on the case. The decision of the court should provide further indication as to the extent to which courts are willing to intervene to force ISPs to disclose information held in relation to its subscribers and whether anonymous subscribers can rely upon anonymity when venting their feelings about a business or an individual.
See also:
Court orders web site to disclose personal data, OUT-LAW News, 04/07/2000
Judge rules against on-line anonymity, OUT-LAW News, 29/05/2000