Tech & Biz

Trolls Can Remain Anonymous: It's the Law!

by Jordan Yerman | February 8, 2008 at 01:27 pm

1302 views | 10 Recommendations | 4 comments

A California court has found that trolls are protected by the first amendment and are entitled to anonymity. The ruling comes despite previous cases where trolls have been arrested (be it once they have been disclosed) and hearings in other courts.

The court reversed a previous decision that would have allowed Lisa Krinsky, COO of a Florida based drug service SFBC, to subpoena 10 anonymous Yahoo message board trolls, according to Ars Technica.

The 10 trolls posted on Yahoo message boards in 2005 with “scathing verbal attacks” including referring to the management team of SFBC as

-- well, moving right along! Anyway, I can see how anonymity can be protected, though, in some circles, anonymity can hamstring one's credibility.
Also, whilst anonymity may well be protected, a site host is not necessarily obligated to host trolling comments: that's basically a "yelling 'fire' in a crowded theater" situation. My advice to those who post comments for the sole purpose of stirring things up: host yer own site, then nobody can ban you.

Ah, but how to monetize trolling... whoever figures that out will retire on a very, very tropical island.

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Swan

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 20:42 on February 8th, 2008

jordan, you've convinced me you've done the work - it's authentic. I also think that you've been fair and thorough. I didn't get the sense that you were hiding your biases, or passing off other's work as your own. Or worse -- getting paid by those you cover -- so it's transparent and independent. I also think you deserve praise for being an eyewitness, and for your investigative efforts. Good stuff.

Swan

at 20:47 on February 8th, 2008

Jordan,

I have no idea how I created the above flag - I never use any automatic text - ever! What on Earth did I do? (So that I can avoid it.)

I flagged the article because I enjoyed the way you presented the original article and what you had to say about it. It was enjoyable - thank you.
~ Swan

Barry ORegan

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 05:56 on February 9th, 2008

jordan, as usual your stories are a wide mix, informative and entertaining, especially this one. There is one Troll I find entertaining, though same say he is a gnome, hey it's all semantics.