Ron Schenone

Judge To Google: Give Up Blogger’s Name

Posted by on Aug 18, 2009 | 4 Comments

A secret blogger who is being accused of making some unflattering comments about a model must be identified by Google. It seems that the blogger used some words like:

“ho,” “skank,” and “whoring.”

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Joan Madden Monday found that blond model Liskula Cohen has grounds to sue the blogger for defamation.

Madden said Google, which owns and operates Blogger.com, must supply Cohen with the writer’s identity so she can pursue her defamation case, the newspaper said.

“The thrust of the blog is that (Cohen) is a sexually promiscuous woman,” Madden wrote in her decision, citing descriptions of Cohen as “whoring” and “ready to engage in oral sexual activity,” and as such, the cover girl is entitled to insist that Google reveal the blogger’s identity to her.

It is good to see that the courts can uphold when a person is defamed. It is also good to see that they can order that the person be identified and a lawsuit can follow. Which makes one wonder if the blogger knows the model?

Comments welcome.

Source.

  • Myrgon

    The big problem I see with this is that it sets a precedent that could be abused later on. I see where the model is coming from in this case, but all it takes is one sleazy lawyer and the right (or wrong) judge, and all the privacy and anonymity that your online presence grants your real life presence could be stripped away. Not a good thing, imho.

  • http://ictheworld.wordpress.com Hotrao

    I think that is a fair decision: writing under a nickname is an opportunity that should not exceed in using this as a barrier for offending someone.

    Each one of us has a different reason for writing under a nickname, from being too famous to being scared of something or someone, from being shy to being worried of something.

    But none of this reason entitles to use this anonimity as a mean for expressing something that we would not say with our real names.

  • Pingback: Blogging under nickname means freedom not anonimity « How I see the world

  • Flint

    It makes one ask; does he or she know the injured party, is this a ploy for media coverage (ie; spears), was the blogger truly knowledgeable concerning the activities published? If any of those questions have an afirmitive answer there could be a counter suit. The tangled web of decit may or may not happen for either party.