I don’t follow internet decisions closely, but only because I don’t have endless time. California’s Sixth District Court of Appeal handed a decision down yesterday that caught my eye anyway, thanks to Professor Martin at the California Appellate Report. In Krinsky v. Doe 6, the appeals court said internet message board users have the right to anonymity under the First Amendment, unless the person suing can show that there’s a viable cause of action — a solid case.
Let me see if I can keep this short yet factual. There was a discussion about a financial company on a Yahoo! message board. As many internet conversations do, it devolved into personal attacks against the company’s officers. One of them, Krinsky, sued for defamation. She subpoenaed Yahoo!, but one of the people involved, Doe 6, wanted the subpoena quashed under the First Amendment. The trial court said no, but the appeals court reversed. The judges said internet users have a First Amendment privacy right that they’re only willing to overrule if the plaintiff can make a case that the speech is defamation (which of course is not constitutionally protected). In this case, the court said, she did not make her case, mostly because Doe 6 was such a jerk that nobody could reasonably think he was telling the truth:
A reasonable reader of this diatribe would not comprehend the harsh language and belligerent tone as anything more than an irrational, vituperative expression of contempt for the three officers of SFBC and their supporters. It appears to label each of the executives in the order named (with “boobs” referring to plaintiff); but even if each epithet refers to all three, this juvenile name-calling cannot reasonably be read as stating actual facts.
True dat.
Like all intermediate appellate court decisions, you can’t take this one to the bank just yet, which may be why I didn’t see much about it in the media. It doesn’t apply widely even within California, and SCOCAL could overrule it. But additions to the caselaw in Internet privacy are generally welcome.
By the way, Doe 6 posted to the message board under the name Senor Pinche Wey, which is Mexican Spanish for something you probably wouldn’t say to your abuelita.
1 Comment
February 11, 2008 at 9:49 pm
Ah, the freedoms we commenters hold dear: flaming and trolling. Also, your mom is gay.