Praise For Court's Privacy DecisionPraise For Court's Privacy Decision
A California judge denied a requested subpoena to disclose the identities of eight who critizised a company anonymously online.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is praising a California court decision that protects the right to post to the Internet anonymously. The case pitted free-speech advocates, such as the foundation, against companies and others unhappy with anonymous notes that are critical of corporate actions.
Judge Neil Cabrinha of the Santa Clara County Superior Court denied a subpoena request by Pre-Paid Legal Services Inc. seeking the identities of eight people who had criticized Pre-Paid on a message board. Pre-Paid execs could not be reached for comment. It's not known if they'll appeal.
Cabrinha denied Pre-Paid's request on First Amendment grounds. Lawyers for the company had said Pre-Paid needed to know if the eight individuals were former Pre-Paid sales staff who had voluntarily agreed not to reveal sales secrets. The foundation defended two of the eight, arguing that their postings were merely critical of Pre-Paid and its treatment of salespeople. Requiring them to reveal their identities would let the company punish the two for speaking out and discourage others from criticizing via the Internet, foundation attorneys argued.
In his decision, Cabrinha said that the postings weren't obvious violations of the injunctions invoked by Pre-Paid and, therefore, the posters' rights outweighed the company's need to know.
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