Trolls have first amendment rights, too!!

[markomalley]

Well, I guess this means that Paw can't ban anybody now ((ducking for cover)). The courts have ruled!

A California judge in the Sixth Appellate District in Santa Clara County last week ruled that anonymous trolls on the Internet are allowed to stay anonymous. Along with remaining anonymous, Internet trolls are able to say what they like, by exercising their First Amendment rights, no matter how belittling is it.

According to

Reuters

, the appeals court reversed a decision from 2006 that would have subpoenaed ten anonymous posters on Yahoo’s message board by the COO of a drug service company, Lisa Krinsky.

The

2006 court case

held that ten anonymous message board posters left quite a few harsh comments on the Internet regarding Krinsky, her company, and two officers at her company. One comment referred to Krinsky saying, "I will reciprocate felatoin [sic] with Lisa even though she has fat thighs, a fake medical degree, ***' and has *****."

(read the cited article if you

really

want to read it. Trust me. You don't)

Doe 6, a tag given to the anonymous posters, days later moved in superior court to quash the subpoena. The defendant claims that Krinsky had “failed to state a claim sufficient to overcome his First Amendment rights for either defamation or interference with a contractual or business relationship” and that her “request for injunctive relief was an invalid prior restraint”.

From the Daily Tech: First Amendment Now Covers Forum Trolls

[Tom Strange]

Well, I guess this means that Paw can't ban anybody now ((ducking for cover)). The courts have ruled!

I didn't read anywhere that it said they couldn't be banned. Only that they could remain anonymous.

Edited February 14, 2008 by Tom Strange