Judge outed as anonymous commenter sues Cleveland newspaper

An Ohio judge on Wednesday sued the newspaper that outed her as an anonymous Web site commenter for $50 million, ABC News reported.

Cuyahoga County Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold and her daughter are suing Cleveland’s The Plain Dealer and Advance Internet after the judge’s identity was release to the public last month. The newspaper had traced comments on stories pending in Saffold’s courtroom to an e-mail account linked to the judge.

The complaint alleges that the paper broke contractual promises spelled out in the Web site’s privacy statement and that many of the comments posted by the pseudonym connected to the judge’s e-mail address were potentially made by her daughter and ex-husband.