08.27.09
Anonymous Blogging May Officially Come To An End
 By
Aurora Brown
So here we go… the lawsuits have begun and the days of being a completely anonymous blogger are now over. So beware with what you say and how true or not true it is. You may fall victim to what you thought was a protected private cyber world.
All this stems from the shameless and anonymous ‘Skanks in NYC’ blogger, who was facing a potential defamation lawsuit by model Liksula Gentile Cohen. The blogger, who published photos and called Cohen shallow, demeaning names, completely disrespected and portrayed the model in negative fashion. Cohen took action and asked that the racy post of her be taken off immediately. However it didn’t end there, Cohen also demanded that Google release the name of the “anonymous” Blogger. Google did not comply with Cohen’s requests, unless ordered to do so by a court. Well, Cohen’s requests and persistence with the courts paid off and the Manhattan Supreme Court Judge ordered Google on August 24th to hand over the blogger’s e-mail and IP addresses. Google gave the information to Cohen’s lawyers, who plan to sue the blogger for defamation.
Now here’s the twist, that same blogger, who now has been identified as fashion student Rosemary Port, is filing a lawsuit of her own. She has decided to sue Google for revealing her identity to Cohen, and thus to the world. So now we know that if the correct actions are taken with the legal system, anyone’s identity can be given away with a simple court order.
This is only the grand introduction of what can potentially be lawsuit after lawsuit; back and forth with the plaintiff and defendant. Who are right and whose freedom of speech is actually being taken away? Now that Google has been ordered to give up the identity of a customer, this is surely a case that many will be watching closely. Is this only the beginning of the end for all anonymous blogs? If simply calling someone something online is considered to be defamation, it may open the door for more lawsuits against all social networking sites such as; Facebook, Twitter, myspace, etc…. Just make sure to be nice with your words and you won’t even have to sweat about a lawsuit. But then again, where’s our 1st amendment right?
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About the Author:
Aurora Brown is the Social Media Manager and Editor-in-Chief for Authority Domains online marketing company. She currently authors the Authority Domains Search Engine Marketing Blog and is working on her first novel.
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