Date: Sat, 18 Aug 2001 10:46:15 -0400
To: Matthew Gaylor <freematt@coil.com>
From: Matthew Gaylor <freematt@coil.com>
Subject: US Court Protects Online Anonymity of Corporate Critics
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"

Court Protects Online Anonymity of Corporate Critics

   Electronic Frontier Foundation Defends Yahoo! Forum Posters

     Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release

     For Immediate Release: August 13, 2001

     Contact:

      Lauren Gelman, EFF Public Policy Dir.
 gelman@eff.org
 +1 415-436-9333 x106 or +1 202-487-0420 (cell)

    San Jose, CA - On Friday, August 10, attorneys from the Electronic
    Frontier Foundation (EFF) successfully defended the speech rights of
    two anonymous Yahoo! message board posters. A California State court
    found that the right of Internet posters to speak anonymously
    outweighed a company's desire to unmask their identities.

    The case involves a subpoena issued by Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc.,
    of Oklahoma (PPLS) requesting the identity of eight posters on
    Yahoo!'s "Pre-Paid" message board, an online forum for discussions
    related to the company. EFF represents two of the J. Does PPLS
    subpoenaed to unmask their identities as part of a dispute between
    PPLS and another (identified) person.

    PPLS argued that it needed the Does' identities to determine whether
    the Internet posters had to comply with a voluntary injunction
    preventing former sales associates who work for a competitor from
    revealing PPLS's trade secrets. EFF senior staff attorney Lee Tien
    argued that the messages cited by PPLS indicated only that the Does
    were critical of the company and how it treats its associates.
    Revealing the identity of these anonymous speakers would give PPLS the
    opportunity to punish the anonymous posters simply for criticizing the
    company.

    Ruling from the bench, the Honorable Neil Cabrinha of the Santa Clara
    County Superior Court quashed the subpoena to Yahoo! requesting the
    posters' identities. Judge Cabrinha agreed with EFF that the messages
    did not appear to violate the injunction, and therefore the First
    Amendment protection of anonymous speech outweighed PPLS's interest in
    learning the identity of the speakers.

    "This is a great victory for anonymous speech," said EFF's Tien. "I
    believe Judge Cabrinha's ruling will signal other companies that
    judges will not permit corporate executives to abuse the courts in
    ferreting out their critics."

    "EFF will continue to step in and fight for the right of individuals
    to speak anonymously," said Lauren Gelman, EFF's director of public
    policy. "We expect to see many similar decisions recognizing that
    First Amendment protections do not disappear just because someone
    chooses to speak online."

    The documents filed in the case (PPLS v. Sturtz) are available at:
      http://www.eff.org/Legal/Cases/PrePaid_Legal_v_Sturtz/

    More information on the similar In re: 2TheMart.com case can be found
    at:
      http://www.eff.org/Legal/Cases/2TheMart_case/

   About EFF:

    The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil liberties
    organization working to protect rights in the digital world. Founded
    in 1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges industry and
    government to support free expression, privacy, and openness in the
    information society. EFF is a member-supported organization and
    maintains one of the most linked-to Web sites in the world:
      http://www.eff.org/


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