EFF sticks up for daTruthSquad
p2pnet news | Freedom:- daTruthSquad, “born from necessity – da necessity for da truth to be told,” had the temerity to not only criticise a controversial lawsuit filed by the township of Manalapan, but also the officials who decided to pursue the case.
So Manalapan subpoenaed Google for “daTruthSquad’s” identity, as well as for emails, blog drafts, and other information Google had about the blogger, “claiming that the defendant in the case is actually writing the posts,” says the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation).
“The defendant, however, has already sworn under penalty of perjury that he is not ‘daTruthSquad’,” says the foundation in a motion to quash the subpoena.
“Bloggers, as well as everyone else, have a First Amendment right to speak anonymously,” says EFF staff lawsyer Matt Zimmerman.
“Litigants don’t get a blank check to pry into the private lives of critics when they say things the litigants don’t like. The fact that it is the government trying to abuse the discovery process makes this attempted invasion of privacy all the more repugnant.”
In another case, Google has agreed to hand over the IP address of a poster who allegedly slandered Israel’s Shaarei Tikva council members running for reelection.
Also See:
EFF – Blogger Fights for Free Speech in New Jersey, November 28, 2007
Shaarei Tikva council – Google to reveal blogger’s IP address, November 28, 2007
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