-Caveat Lector- EFF Challenges Effort to Silence Online Critic Civil Liberties Group Challenges Corporate Lawyer's Effort to Undermine Internet Writer's Right to Remain Anonymous Electronic Frontier Foundation ALERT -- Oct. 17, 2000 October 13, 2000 - An Internet civil liberties group has teamed up with a consumer group to weigh in against the common practice of using unsubstatiated civil lawsuits to determine the identity of a controversial speaker. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), along with the consumer group Public Citizen, filed a motion to quash a subpoena presented to America Online (AOL) seeking the identity of an anonymous poster absent proof from the plaintiff that statements made were actually defamatory. The brief was filed on behalf of an individual (Jane Doe) who had made several comments on a Yahoo! message board devoted to AK Steel (formerly Armco Steel), based in Middletown, Ohio. Among these messages were statements that John Hritz, executive vice president and general counsel of AK Steel, was too litigious. Hritz promptly filed a "petition for discovery," generally alleging that "John and/or Jane Doe" had made "disparaging, threatening and defamatory" comments on the Internet. Ohio law allows Hritz to file a "petition for discovery" even though he has not yet filed a lawsuit against Doe. Hritz then used that petition to issue subpoenas to Yahoo! and AOL to identify Doe. EFF and Public Citizen stepped in to combat the growing problem of powerful entities increasingly turning to their lawyers when they find something online they don't like. Lauren Gelman, EFF's Director of Public Policy, explained, "This is just one more example where the legal system is being misused to chill Internet conduct. Lawyers are churning out subpoenas with the sole purpose of intimidating individuals into self-censoring speech. That's especially clear here, where Hritz hasn't even filed a lawsuit." The only specific web posting about himself that Hritz cited in his request for discovery is "Hritz will litigate the time of day. OOPS I will be in court." As Doe explains in her brief, not only is this statement purely opinion, and hence not actionable as libel, but the filing of this case against Doe seems to substantiate Doe's criticism of Hritz. Doe argues in her brief that because the main purpose of such suits is often to unmask a company's critics, the identification of those critics should be treated as a major form of relief that cannot be awarded without proof of wrongdoing. "A company should not be able to deny members of the public the right to speak anonymously simply by making vague allegations of wrongdoing," clarified EFF's Legal Director, Cindy Cohn. EFF's Gelman explained further, "Given the complete lack of evidence that Hritz was libeled, his use of the court as his own private detective agency constitutes a blatant disregard for the Supreme Court's ruling that the First Amendment protects Jane Doe's right to speak anonymously. This is unacceptable behavior, especially from a lawyer for a major corporation." "This lawsuit is a blatant attempt to intimidate all of AK Steel's employees and other members of the public," said Paul Levy of Public Citizen Litigation Group, who plans to argue the case on behalf of Doe. "Hritz is in effect warning workers not to exercise their First Amendment right to speak freely about the company on the Internet." "It would be disturbing if courts were to permit the disclosure of the identities of people who post messages anonymously," Levy said. "The First Amendment guarantees people a right to speak out and participate in public debates. A message board is just that -- an ongoing public debate." EFF decided to put together a legal team to defend Doe because of the free speech implications of the case. Robert Corn-Revere and Ronald Wiltsie of the Washington, D.C.-based law firm of Hogan and Hartson, and Timothy Connors and Mark Belleville of the Ohio-based law firm of Calfee, Halter & Griswold, also are representing Doe as local counsel in the Virginia and Ohio courts, respectively. The Electronic Frontier Foundation ( http://www.eff.org ) is the leading civil liberties organization working to protect rights in the digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges industry and government to support free expression, privacy, and openness in the information society. EFF is a member-supported organization and maintains one of the most-linked-to Web sites in the world. EFF sees its action in this case as part of its larger mission to protect speech online. EFF was a plaintiff in ACLU v. Reno, the landmark case in which the Supreme Court ruled that the Internet is a constitutionally protected medium. EFF is currently providing the legal defense for Eric Corley, publisher of 2600 Magazine, in a lawsuit before the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals where the movie industry has sued to keep Corley from publishing or even linking to controversial software. Contact: Lauren Gelman, Electronic Frontier Foundation, +1 202 487 0420 Cindy Cohn, Electronic Frontier Foundation, +1 415 436 9333 Paul Levy, Public Citizen, +1 202 588 1000 Full text of the EFF/Public Citizen brief is available at: http://www.eff.org/Legal/Cases/Jane_Doe_v_John_Hritz _________________________________________________________________ "What becomes of the surplus of human life? 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