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Friday, November 06, 2009

Courts - "Comment decision in New Hampshire high court’s hands"

Adding against to the ILB's list of entries on impacts of and access to anonymous posts and comments, Ashley Smith reported in the Nov. 5th Nashua NH Telegraph. Some quotes from the lengthy story:

CONCORD – The New Hampshire Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in a free-speech case that calls into question whether media outlets can protect the identities of anonymous online commenters.

The case also has potentially broad implications in determining who constitutes the media in an Internet age that has blurred the line between traditional news outlets and bloggers or citizen journalists. * * *

The complex case centers around a mortgage-industry watchdog Web site Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter that posts news from other sources about the housing finance crisis. Last fall, the site posted a story about a New Hampshire company, The Mortgage Specialists Inc., that was being investigated by banking officials for a number of alleged violations, including forging signatures, destroying documents and unfair or deceptive 
business practices.

Along with the story, Implode-O-Meter staff posted a confidential financial document MSI had prepared for the New Hampshire Banking Department, which was provided to them by an unnamed source. Some time later, a writer using the pseudonym “Brianbattersby” posted a comment on the site accusing MSI President Michael Gill of fraud.

MSI asked the site’s publisher, Implode-Explode Heavy Industries, to take down the document and comment, which it did. But the publisher refused to identify the person who leaked the chart or the commenter. It also refused to promise that it wouldn’t repost the chart in the future.

MSI eventually sued, and won.

A Rockingham County Superior Court judge ordered the publisher to reveal its anonymous sources to the company and not to post confidential documents in the future. The Web site appealed that decision to the state’s Supreme Court, which agreed to take on the case.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on November 6, 2009 12:31 PM
Posted to Courts in general