Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson issued a grand jury subpoena to New York political blog Room Eight seeking identifying information for several anonymous bloggers and commentors. The subpoena ordered Room Eight operators Gur Tsabar and Ben Smith not to disclose the subpoena's existence -- not even to the anonymous posters -- because doing so could "impede the investigation" and "interfere with law enforcement."

In the disputed posts, Room Eight posters using the pseudonyms "Republican Dissident" (RD), "Dissident Hunter," and "Anonymous" criticized local politicians and Bronx Republican Party officials. According to copies of posts attached to the subpoena, a poster accused Bronx Board of Elections Commissioner J.C. Polanco and board employee Dawn Sandow of having an extramarital affair and other posters accused them of committing misdeeds. Many of the posts focused on Sandow, including one that included a graphic of a witch flying on a broom and told her to "HAVE A NICE FLIGHT" (caps in the original). Other postings attached to the subpoena alleged that Bronx Republican Party official Jay Savino and other local politicians and officials had engaged in fraudulent and illegal activities.

According to Room Eight's court filings, anonymous poster "Republican Dissident" also criticized the Bronx Republican Party for failing to run candidates against District Attorney Johnson, the D.A. who issued the subpoena to Room Eight. However, the District Attorney did not include these posts when he sent the subpoena requesting the information from Room Eight.

Following receipt of the subpoena, Tsabar and Smith sought permission from the D.A.'s Office to notify the anonymous posters about the subpoena so they could object to the revelation of their identifying information. Negotiations between the parties failed, so the non-disclosure demand remained in force.

On May 22, 2008, Tsabar and Smith moved to quash the subpoena in the Supreme Court of New York for Bronx County. They argued that the subpoena threatened the posters' First Amendment right to speak anonymously, analogizing to numerous civil cases protecting online anonymity rights in the context of subpoenas. According to Public Citizen, counsel for Tsabar and Smith, Room Eight also threatened to file a federal suit on the ground that the threat of criminal prosection violated the posters' right to criticized the District Attorney.

After Room Eight filed its motion to quash, Johnson withdrew the subpoena. Public Citizen advised the D.A. that it still would file suit if he intended that the subpoena's non-disclosure language remain in force. The D.A. then freed the defendants to disclose information regarding the subpoenas.

On April 14, 2008, the Rockland County District Attorney's Office issued a grand jury subpoena to The Journal News, a daily newspaper distributed in New York and Southern Connecticut that operates LoHud.com, a website providing an online version of the newspaper as well as community forums that post reader comments regarding news, opinion, and subjects of public interest. The subpoena requested that The Journal News provide subscriber information for a user who had posted to one of LoHud's forums using a pseudonymous screen name. To maintain grand jury secrecy, the court documents did not reveal the screen name or the reason that the information was sought.

The Journal News moved to quash the subpoena before a Rockland County court. Relying on Dendrite v. Doe, 775 A.2d 756 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 2001), the newspaper argued that the court should require the District Attorney to make a heightened showing of need and demonstrate an evidentiary basis for requesting the information in order to overcome First Amendment protection for anonymous speech. The court denied the motion to quash, ruling that it could could dispose of the case without adopting the Dendrite standard because the District Attorney had made a heightened showing of need through in camera testimony. 

The court directed The Journal News to comply with the subpoena by May 28, 2008.

In March 2000, AnswerThink, a business and technology consulting firm, fired Gregory P. Hackett for allegedly criticizing the company on a Yahoo! forum and sued him for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and loyalty, and defamation in Florida federal court.

AnswerThink fired and sued Hackett after subpoenaing Yahoo! and learning Hackett's identity during a related lawsuit, AnswerThink Consulting Group v. Doe. In that lawsuit, AnswerThink sued Hackett and several others as John Does for defamation.

Hackett and AnswerThink settled both cases in July 2000.

In a related matter, Hackett sued Yahoo! in California federal court in May 2000 for violating his privacy when it complied with AnswerThink's subpoena. Hackett and Yahoo! settled in August 2000.

On October 8th, 2007, Quixtar Inc., a sister company of Amway Corp., sued thirty “John Does” for anonymous posts they made on blogs focused on Quixtar including freetheibo.com, theiborebellion.blogspot.com, and quixtarlostmycents.blogspot.com, and for anonymous videos posted on YouTube that the company considers disparaging and malicious. Quixtar seeks an injunction and damages of more than $25,000.

Quixtar claims two counts of tortious interference and one count of unfair competition. The complaint alleges the defendants have caused proprietary information to be disclosed and encouraged Quixtar’s distributors, known as “Independent Business Operators” (IBOs) not to buy certain products, to stop building their businesses, and to resign from the Quixtar business. Quixtar also claims unfair competition alleging the defendants misled current and prospective IBOs into believing Quixtar’s business practices are unethical, its products are not competitively priced, and it is operating contrary to law.

According to Quixtar’s official news blog called “Alticor Media Blog,” the lawsuit was filed in order to discover the identities of the bloggers and discern whether they are working in concert with Orrin Woodward, the subject of a separate Quixtar legal action Quixtar, Inc. v. Woodward, No. 07-08413-CK, slip op. (Mich. Cir. Ct. Aug. 10, 2007). An October 12th, 2007, blog post reflects this motivation:

We filed suit this week in Ottawa County, Michigan seeking to learn more about a number of “John Does” who have cropped up online since our dispute with Orrin Woodward and TEAM began.

Because we believe we can prove that some of their sites and posts were engineered or directed by Woodward, TEAM, their lawyers or their PR agency. And that those sites were purposely used to post material that violates a court order.

…So we are seeking to support the legal system – and not attack First Amendment speech. Tough line to walk, but we’ll walk it. Because we believe in both principles.

Some of the John Does filed a motion to dismiss the suit on October 15, 2007, arguing collateral estoppel in connection with the pending Quixtar v. Woodward case where Quixtar also seeks to discover the identities of the John Does and that Quixtar’s complaint violates the defendants' freedom of speech rights under the U.S. Constitution and article I of the Michigan Constitution.

Allegheney Energy ("AE") sued a John Doe who posted anonymous criticism of the company that included racial epithets on a Yahoo! Finance forum dedicated to AE.  Because the anonymous author included statements in his posts indicating that he was a long-time AE employee, AE claimed  breach of fiduciary duty and breach of duty of loyalty in its filing in Pennsylvania state court.

After filing the suit on October 16, 2003, AE subpoenaed Yahoo! to reveal Doe's identity. Yahoo! sent notification of its receipt of the subpoena to Doe, whose real name turned out to be Cliff Swiger, and revealed Swiger's identity to AE.  Swiger claimed he never received the notification.  On November 25, AE filed a motion to dismiss the suit against John Doe (Swiger).

AE subsequently fired Swiger for his postings on the Yahoo! forum. Swiger then filed a lawsuit against AE for abuse of process, wrongful use of civil proceedings, intrusion of seclusion, and publication of private facts. See Allegheney Energy v. Swiger for more information.

Since March 2007, The Central Coast Housing Bubble Blog published publicly available information about the legal and financial problems home builders and their financiers were having during the the Housing Bust. This included bankruptcies, foreclosures and civil disputes. A post published in March 2007 regarding the financial troubles and loan defaults of Alan Little Custom Homes has drawn the attention of one of Mr. Little's business partners, Eddie Iven Palmer. 

Mr Palmer is unhappy with anonymous commenters who posted details about his legal background and other opinions about his ethics and business partnerships. Mr. Palmer has now filed suit in San Luis Obispo County Court (Case #CV080374) against the anonymous commenters for libel and invasion of privacy and has subpoenaed Google for IP addresses in order to proceed with his case. Google has agreed to provide the information if there is no opposition or motions filed with the courts. The deadline is June 20, 2008. The blog or the blog author is NOT named in the suit or the subpoena. The commenters posted anonymously because the fear of retaliation is high which also necessitated the suspension of the blog.

(The portion above was submitted by Guest.)

Update:

02/04/09 - The New Times reports that Palmer's attorney succeeded in compelling Google to provide information regarding "three individuals and one business."  As a result, at least two of the anonymous posters -- Al Brill and Scott Barnes -- have been identified and added as defendants in the suit.  Brill had unsuccessfully challenged the revelation on the ground that it was inconsistent with the First Amendment right to speak anonymously. 

04/10/09 - According to a press clipping on file with the CMLP, Ed Palmer passed away, presumably ending the case. 

In May 2008, Larry Dominick, the Town President of Cicero, Illinois, filed a "Petition for Discovery" in Illinois state court, seeking information from social networking site MySpace regarding a user who had created false profiles purporting to be Dominick. The petition asked the court for permission to issue interrogatories and document requests to MySpace to discover the user's identity. Interestingly, Dominick filed suit in his official capacity as Town President rather than as a private individual (see Sam Bayard's blog post for further discussion).

Dominick's petition states that Dominick "is the potential plaintiff in an action for defamation, invasion of privacy and related torts" against the creator or creators of the false profiles, but it does not identify any specific defamatory statements or describe the content of the profiles in detail. According to the Chicago Tribune, the profiles were "replete with photos and questionable comments about his sexuality and ethics." MySpace removed the profiles in response to Dominick's claims.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed a motion to appear as amicus curiae in the case. On June 4, EFF submitted a brief opposing the petition for discovery and arguing that (1) the Stored Communications Act prohibits a government entity like the Town of Cicero from using ordinary discovery processes to obtain customer records from an online service like MySpace; and (2) Dominick failed to meet the heightened First Amendment requirements demanded of litigants seeking the identities of anonymous Internet speakers.

On June 13, Dominick voluntarily withdrew his complaint without prejudice. Dominick did not note the reasons for the withdrawal, but commentators such as the EFF have stated that his complaint was deficient because it lacked specific allegations of defamatory conduct and proof that the defamatory statements were false.

Eclipse Aviation, a manufacturer of "affordable" jets, recently sent a subpoena to Google seeking to uncover the identities of 28 users who posted on the blog Eclipse Aviation Critic NG, which Google hosts on its Blogger service.

The subpoena, which includes a colorful list of pseudonyms such as "Turn-and-Burn," "Bill E. Goat," and "Niner Zulu," does not state why the information is necessary. AINonline, an aviation news site, reports:

According to Eclipse president and CEO Vern Raburn, the Albuquerque, N.M. aircraft manufacturer has been irreparably damaged by the “lies” posted by anonymous visitors on the blog, and he seeks to unmask them via the subpoena. But the blog hasn’t been far off the mark on several occasions, suggesting that some of the anonymous posters might be Eclipse employees who could be breaking a non-disclosure agreement signed when they were hired.

According to news reports and comments on Eclipse Aviation Critic NG, the website operator, Shane Price, and the impacted users plan to file a motion to quash in Santa Clara Superior Court where the subpoena was filed.

Update:

May 8, 2008 - "John Doe" filed a motion to quash the subpoena

August 2008 - After a change in company management, Eclipse withdrew the lawsuit.

In December 2007, FranklinCovey Co., the owner of the copyright in the book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, filed suit against Lycos and five "John Doe" defendants, alleging copyright infringement. Lycos operates Angelfire, a website that offers free space, as well as a paid subscription system, for Internet users to post blogs, photo galleries, and other information. FranklinCovey claimed that unknown Angelfire users posted a full digital copy of The 7 Habits on the website.

In August 2007, the company had sent Lycos two takedown notices pursuant to Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (see related database entry), but Lycos allegedly did not respond byremoving or disabling access to the infringing material. FranklinCovey's complaint sought actual or statutory damages (at its election) and an injunction barring the defendants from posting its work. The parties settled before Lycos filed an answer, and FranklinCovey voluntarily dismissed the action. Lycos has taken down the digital copy of The 7 Habits.

Jimmie Cokinos, a former Jefferson County Commissioner, petitioned a Texas state court for permission to issue a subpoena to Time Warner Cable seeking the identity of a subscriber. The subscriber, using the pseudonym "recall+carl01," had sent a series of emails to voters at the time Cokinos was (unsuccessfully) seeking re-election. The emails criticized Cokinos and other public officials for allegedly making wasteful public expenditures and satirized them by placing photographs of their heads on photographs of characters from "Hogan's Heroes" and "Star Wars." In his petition, Cokinos alleged that the emails were defamatory and violated the Texas Election Code.

When Time Warner notified its subscriber of the subpoena, the pseudonymous emailer moved to quash the subpoena with the help of the Public Citizen Litigation Group. Doe argued that the First Amendment protected his/her right to speak anonymously and that the emails contained legitimate criticism, not defamatory statements. The court agreed and granted the motion to quash.