Re: EFF Urges Court to Block Dragnet Subpoenas Targeting Onl

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"Overbroad subpoenas targeting anonymous speakers without
cause naturally creates a chilling effect that may discourage
others from exercising their constitutional rights to
participate in conversations that take place online," said
Zimmerman. 'We are asking the court to enforce these
reasonable safeguards so that the rights of innocent speakers
do not become collateral damage in a dispute between others.'

For the full motion to quash:
http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/hersh_v_cohen/UOJ-
motiontoquashmemo.pdf

I have mixed emotions about this one.

If one does not state their true identity when writing, they
are more likely to write outrageous words that they never
would if people knew who they were. Mike B is a prime
example of this.

But on the other hand, I have honed some great information
from this board and other boards by people who would be
afraid to speak out for fear of retribution if they had to
use their real name.

Seems to me like there should be a law somewhere in the
middle on this one. I don't know all the facts of this case,
so really couldn't say what I think specifically about this
one.

On 7/16/10, Deborah wrote:
> https://www.eff.org/press/archives/2010/07/13
>
> Privacy and Anonymity at Risk in New York Conspiracy Suit
>
> New York - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) this
> week served a motion to quash dragnet subpoenas that put
> privacy and anonymity at risk for the operators of dozens of
> Internet blogs and potentially hundreds of commenters.
>
> The subpoenas stem from a state lawsuit filed by New York
> residents Miriam and Michael Hersh alleging a conspiracy to
> interfere with their business interests. Issued to Google
> and Yahoo, the subpoenas demand the identities of users of
> ten email accounts, operators of 30 blogs and a website that
> had featured discussions of the plaintiffs among other
> matters, and the identities of everyone who had ever
> commented on those sites.