Anonymous Orthodox Jewish blogger could be "outed"

by mardoux | March 15, 2007 at 03:38 pm

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Google had better stay out of this, or there is going to be a deluge of protest from the Jewish community. They're already walking a slippery slope with Indians and Orkut. First Amendment rights aside, whatever happened to good, old-fashioned shouting matches at PTA meetings? Or must everything go to court these days?

An Orthodox Jewish blogger is asking a judge to protect her anonymity from a Long Island elected official who has gone to court to identity the blogger.

The elected official, Pamela Greenbaum, a member of the school board for Lawrence, L.I., asked a state judge last month to force Google to identify the writer behind a popular Web log for the orthodox community in the Five Towns area.

The blog, orthomom.blogspot.com, featured a posting in January critical of Ms. Greenbaum's position regarding the use by yeshiva students of public school facilities. In guest comments to the postings, Ms. Greenbaum has been called a "bigot."