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Arizona Court Protects Internet User's Name
by Michael Martinez
An appellate court in Arizona this week ruled that a communications company seeking to identify an Internet user who circulated damaging e-mails about the firm's chief executive must prove the disclosure outweighs the interest of anonymity.
The Arizona Court of Appeals on Tuesday blocked an attempt by the Washington-based firm Mobilisa to force an Internet service provider to release personally identifiable information about the sender of the anonymous e-mail. It included messages exchanged between the company's CEO and his mistress.
The appellate court ruled 2-1 that a balancing test should be applied to determine the anonymous speaker's expectations to privacy in such cases. The ruling sends the case back to a lower court, where a judge has been instructed to apply the test.
"Requiring a balancing of competing interests provides an additional safeguard that comports with Arizona's broad protection given to free speech and individual privacy," the court said.
The test established by the court also would require that judges give defendants the opportunity to hire attorneys and respond in court when Internet providers are subpoenaed for information that can be used to identify the Internet users.
Civil libertarians declared the ruling a First Amendment victory. The defendant in the case was backed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the watchdog group Public Citizen.
In a news release, Public Citizen attorney Paul Levy said the appellate ruling recognizes the need to protect online anonymity when it is not abused so that free speech is not chilled.
"The ability to speak or criticize anonymously online is an important tool for whistleblowers to expose misconduct or corruption by powerful companies or public figures," he said. "Speakers often have a good reason to remain anonymous when the targets of their criticism have the power to harm them."
In a post at EFF's Deeplinks blog, staff attorney Corynne McSherry said the decision struck "the right balance between the competing interests of subpoenaing parties and the anonymous speakers they seek to unmask, recognizing that once an online user's anonymity and privacy have been eviscerated, they cannot be repaired."
E-mails were at the center of several other state-level court cases this week.
The Loudoun Times-Mirror reported that a county supervisor in Virginia has vowed to appeal a recent ruling compelling her to relinquish personal e-mails requested by a woman who has land-use applications pending before the county Board of Supervisors.
General District Court Judge Dean Worcester earlier this month ruled that county Supervisor Lori Waters should not be allowed to withhold the messages just because they were personal.
County resident Sally Mann filed a freedom of information request for communications exchanged among Waters and others after Mann's land-use applications were opposed. Mann also claims Waters and others mocked her on several Web sites.
A federal judge in Hawaii, meanwhile, is considering lifting a gag order on e-mails in which a former top aide to Gov. Linda Lingle was blackmailed about escorts he has been accused of hiring on a state trip abroad.
AP reported that U.S. District Judge Michael Seabright decided he will hear oral arguments to determine whether the messages to Bob Awana, Lingle's ex-chief of staff, should be made public. AP reporters have filed a request to view the e-mails.
N.Y. Judge Removed For Tirade About Phone
A New York judge who once had dozens of people in his courtroom jailed when a cellular telephone interrupted courtroom proceedings was kicked out of the courthouse himself this week.
The state Commission on Judicial Conduct on Tuesday moved to officially remove Niagara Falls City Court Judge Robert Restaino from the bench. In 2005, Restaino ordered 46 people in his courtroom to jail after a cellular phone rang while he was in the middle of hearing a case.
The commission found Restaino guilty of committing an "egregious and unprecedented abuse of judicial power." According to the commission's determination, Restaino ordered the people in his courtroom into custody after the owner of the ringing phone refused to come forward.
"Even as a threat, such a reaction was disproportionate and improper," the commission said. "It is even more shocking that, over the next two hours, he methodically proceeded to carry out his threat without realizing that his extreme response was far more disruptive than a ringing phone."
An attorney for Restaino told AP that the judge intends to appeal the commission's decision.
Details Surface In Sex Sting Of Texas Prosecutor
A computer-forensic analysis report released this week by Texas law enforcers has shed light on the arrest and suicide of a former prosecutor nabbed in an online sex sting last year.
The Dallas Morning News reported that records disclosed by the Kaufman County Sherriff's Department indicate that law enforcers had evidence that former county District Attorney Louis (Bill) Conradt possessed child pornography and attempted to send lurid pictures of himself over the Internet to minors.
Conradt committed suicide after he was caught in a sting operation orchestrated by the watchdog group Perverted Justice and the television program "Dateline NBC: To Catch a Predator." The show exposes alleged sexual predators on the air. Conradt's family has filed a $105 million lawsuit against NBC.
The Morning News filed a public-records request for the forensics report. It indicated that several computer disks found in Conradt's home included pornography, including illegal child porn.
Conradt's brother-in-law told the newspaper the fact that porn was found would not impact the family's suit against NBC. The network has filed a motion for the case to be dismissed.
Alabama Tries To Save Money On E-Mail
Government officials in Alabama announced that the state has consolidated all of its e-mail services onto a single account.
The Huntsville Times reported that the state Finance Department has successfully moved 20,000 users from 250 agencies that had been operating on 45 separate e-mail systems onto one system.
A department official said the move will save the state a significant amount of money, considering it costs roughly $5 a month for each individual user.
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