Google Subpoena Update

I have received an email from Google saying that they intend to provide "responsive documents" as to the identity of the January 27th commenter by March 19th.

The silver lining in this communication from them is that they did not have to contact me at all about this issue. This email gives the anonymous commenter a bit more time to take steps to protect him or herself.

As I have suggested before, the commenter might begin by contacting an attorney, and/or the Electronic Frontier Foundation as soon as possible.

Ampersand Subpoena Independent Story

The Santa Barbara Independent has posted a story on their media blog about the Ampersand Publishing subpoena to Google which was reported here the other day. Both myself and the Electronic Frontier Foundation have not heard from the anonymous commenter -- and although I find it strange that Ampersand would seek the identity of a comment that was supportive of their relative position, I feel strongly that the commenter has a right to keep their identity private. Why have no News-Press sympathizers come to the person's aide? We'd love to hear from you...

I heard the other day on NPR that Lyndon Johnson once said about politics that 'it is much easier to throw a grenade than to catch one'. Perhaps that is a way to look at all of the legal maneuvering over at De La Guerra Plaza. Subpoenas, cease and desist letters and other "forms of communication" are pretty easy to churn out when you care little about big picture implications for our community, journalism and free speech...but that's just my opinion and point of view isn't it?

Subpoena to Anonymous Made by Ampersand

One of the most challenging things about being Sara de la Guerra is moderating the diverse, often emotional comments that are made at BlogaBarbara. There are times when I make judgement calls as to what I allow to be published and I reject many comments for various reasons every day. They are either way off-topic, use profanity or are over-the-top in their mean-spritedness which I don't believe facilitates civil dialogue. Protecting your freedom of speech, however, is an important matter to me -- even if I don't agree with what you have to say.

It has come to my attention that Google has received a subpoena from Ampersand Publishing requesting the IP address for an "Anonymous" who made a comment on January 27, 2007. In it -- the commenter said a "bombshell" would be dropped soon related to a former employee of the News-Press. My understanding is that Google intends to provide this information and I felt strongly that our community should know about this as it doesn't sound like there would be a way for the anonymous commenter to know that information is being sought about them.

To keep their identity from being revealed, the commenter might want to contact an attorney or seek assistance from The Electronic Frontier Foundation which has been invaluable to my efforts to keep my identity private. I want to make it clear I do not know who made the comment.

That being said -- common, everyday dynamic IP addresses and other anonymizing technologies will usually keep anyone from knowing where you are writing your comments from past your Internet Service Provider. Still, for whoever made this comment not to know they might be found out seemed wrong to me on an ethical and philosophical level -- whether or not I agree with them. Perhaps we would all be better served if we never wrote anything we wouldn't want to stand up for ourselves.