ISPs
Ordered to Reveal User Identities
By Tim McDonald
E-Commerce Times
October 17, 2000
Although privacy advocates from the ACLU had argued that the identities
of the eight "John Doe" defendants should not be disclosed, the Third
District Court of Appeals in Miami sided with plaintiff Eric Hvide and
upheld a lower court's ruling that America Online (Nasdaq: AOL) and Yahoo!
(Nasdaq: YHOO) must reveal information they have about the defendants.
According to Hvide's complaint, the defendants made comments in a Yahoo!
financial chat room that suggested Hvide might be guilty of securities
violations in his capacity as CEO of a company called Hvide Marine. Hvide
ultimately resigned from the company.
"They ruined this guy's life and career," Hvide's attorney Bruce Fischman
said. "You've got the right to know who's attacking you."
Free
Speech
Critics of the decision charge that it could have a chilling effect
on online discussions.
"The court had the potential to set an important precedent about the
right to speak anonymously on the Internet," ACLU attorney Lyrissa Lidsky
told reporters. "The courts are eventually going to have to come to grips
with this issue and decide how broad free speech rights are in cyberspace."
With literally thousands of chat rooms on the Internet, businesses and
individuals are increasingly taking legal action against anonymous chatters
who disclose proprietary information or make defamatory remarks online.
Though a hot topic, rulings have been issued in only a few of the online
anonymity cases. In Virginia, a federal judge ordered the identity of
online participants revealed in a criminal case; however, civil cases
in both Virginia and California involving online anonymity issues are
still pending.
Electronic privacy advocates say that most of the lawsuits are frivolous
attempts to silence critics, and that the cases are usually dropped as
soon as the names are revealed.
Naming
Names
For their part, businesses are insisting that people who slander companies
in anonymous chat rooms should be subject to the same laws as people who
make libelous comments elsewhere. In one case last year, defense giant
Raytheon sued 20 employees over comments they made about the company's
finances in an Internet chat room. Four of the employees subsequently
resigned.
Until recently, Yahoo! complied immediately after receiving a "John
Doe" subpoena demanding the names and e-mail addresses of chat room participants.
Now, in an attempt to give potential defendants an opportunity to guard
their identities in court, the ISP gives 15 days notice to the people
involved before complying with the subpoena.
A
Florida appeals court ruled Monday that Internet service providers (ISPs)
must reveal the identities of eight people who anonymously posted allegedly
defamatory messages in a Web chat room.
The ACLU is bitterly opposed
to the Florida decision.
