Online commenters

The Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled that negative online reviews about a local neurologist were not defamatory and are protected under the First Amendment.

A man accused of throwing a severed horse head in a local politician's pool does not have to prove monetary loss to pursue a defamation lawsuit against his online accusers, an appellate court in New York ruled.

Media advocates are concerned about a federal court order that compels two technology companies involved in a drawn-out patent infringement lawsuit to disclose the names of writers they paid to comment about the case.

Google and Oracle, a computer technology corporation, have until Friday to identify any journalists or bloggers they paid for writing about the case, ruled Judge William Alsup of the U.S. District Court in San Francisco.

A federal judge in Colorado is considering a case that could affect the developing law concerning rights of anonymous Internet posters.

A New Orleans area politician is suing for defamation and embarrassment caused by anonymous, online comments made on NOLA.com, TheTimes-Picayune reported.

Steve Theriot, the interim president of Jefferson Parish, which is part of the metropolitan New Orleans area, claims the comments made on the site were made with "malice and a blatant, intentional disregard for the truth."