A judge’s ruling could make it easier for targets of Internet invective to identify hecklers and sue them.

New York Supreme Court Judge Joan Madden ordered Google to identify an anonymous blogger who published photos of former fashion model Liskula Cohen alongside captions such as “ho,” “psychotic” and other unprintable things.

“The protection of the right to communicate anonymously must be balanced against the need to assure that those persons who choose to abuse the opportunities presented by this medium can be made to answer for such transgressions,” Judge Madden said.

Cohen’s lawyer said that he plans to sue the blogger as soon as Google provides the identifying information. He said that he and his client are “happy that the court recognizes that the Internet is not a place where people can freely defame people.”

Not surprisingly, the blogger’s lawyer had a different reaction. She asserted that her client’s statements were typical of chatter “in comments sections, on Twitter, on blogs” and that the ruling could have “potentially damaging implications for free speech on the Internet.”

What does this mean for employers? Companies tormented by anonymous bloggers (including employees) may now find it easier to obtain IP and e-mail addresses for those behind the comments. Those who try to hide behind the web’s supposed cloak of anonymity may soon find themselves exposed.

This case certainly won’t be the last word on this issue. Stay tuned to see how this plays out.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 19th, 2009 at 7:18 am and is filed under Blogs, Defamation, Employment Law News, Internet, Twitter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.