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Bloggers might lose anonymity

by on19 August 2009

Image

Court ruling looms


A Court
might come close to removing bloggers' long cherished anonymity.

Liskula Cohen, a Vogue cover model, won an interesting case against the nameless blogger behind the Skanks site. Judge Joan Madden ruled that Cohen is entitled to know the identity of the blogger as phrases such as "psychotic, lying, whoring...skank" which might be a Nintendo defamatory.

Cohen sued in January, asking the court to order Google, which was host to the site on Blogger, to reveal its author's identity. The judge declared that Google must inform the blogger that he or she should probably get a lawyer, as there is a risk of unmasking.

The blogger's lawyer claimed that blogs "have evolved as the modern-day soapbox for personal opinions". Apparently have no other value and people don't believe them. But the Judge didn't think so. The comments were placed near somewhat-provocative pictures of the model.

Judge Madden declared that placing such epithets as "ho" and "skank" next to these images might create "a negative implication of sexual promiscuity." The Blog was taken down in March.

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