Anonymous speech

JuicyCampus.com founder Matt Ivester, whose site has been criticized as profiting from invasion of college students’ privacy and tarnishing their reputations, fielded questions this week at Georgetown University and largely brushed off concerns that the site is offensive and damages lives, The Washington Post reported.

An Illinois newspaper is using the state shield law to fight a subpoena for the identities of some readers who commented anonymously on the paper’s Web site.

According to a Belleville News-Democrat report, the state attorney general wants the information for a grand jury hearing on a murder investigation.

An Oregon newspaper does not have to give up the identity of someone who commented anonymously on its website, a judge held this week, because the state shield law protects anonymous bloggers just as it does confidential sources.

It was news enough earlier this month when two Yale law students publicly outed an anonymous message board writer they say defamed them online with a slew of sexual attacks. Now comes a report that the man they're suing -- Matthew C. Ryan -- has the same name as one unlucky Texas lawyer.

The Journal News in New York's Lower Hudson Valley is expecting a judge to order it to identify three anonymous online posters who an ex-congressman and his wife believe slandered them on the newspaper's website.

The Wall Street Journal's law blog reports that U.S. District Court Judge Christopher F. Droney is allowing two Yale law students to subpoena Internet service providers to determine the identities behind 39 online pseudonyms who posted comments about them on AutoAdmit, an online discussion board.