Anonymous post
An anonymous post is an entry on a bulletin board system, Internet forum or message board, blog, or other discussion forum without a screen name or more commonly by using a non-identifiable pseudonym. Some online forums do not allow such posts, requiring users to be registered. Some may allow anonymous posts, but discourage anonymous cowards. Others like JuicyCampus and AutoAdmit thrive upon anonymity.
IP Addresses
Anonymity on the Internet is limited by IP addresses. For example, WikiScanner associates anonymous Wikipedia edits with the IP address that made the change and tries to identify the entity that owns the IP address. On other websites IP address may not be publicly available, but they can be obtained from the website controllers.[1]
Actually identifying who posted an anonymous post requires two Doe subpoenas. First, the IP address of the poster must be obtained from the hosting website. Second, the IP address is linked to a real person. In legal maters, websites can be forced to provide IP addresses and then ISP can often be forced to identify user of the IP address.
Legal Protections
The right to speak anonymously online is protected by the First Amendment, and various other laws.[2] These laws restrict the ability of the government and civil litigants to obtain the identity of anonymous speakers. The First Amendment says that “Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.”[3] This protection has been interpreted by the Supreme Court to protect the right to speak anonymously offline. In McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission,[4] the Supreme Court overturned an Ohio law banning the distribution of anonymous election pamphlets. The Court said “[a]n author’s decision to remain anonymous . . . is an aspect of the freedom of speech protected by the First Amendment.”[5] The Court found that “anonymous pamphleteering is not a pernicious, fraudulent practice, but an honorable tradition of advocacy and of dissent. Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority.”[6] Various courts have interpreted these offline protections to extend to the online world.[7]
See Also
- Doe subpoena
- Privacy for People Who Don’t Show Their Navels
- TOR
- A Technical Guide to Anonymous Blogging
Notes
- ^ For some suggestions on how to make it harder to trace anonymous posts see EFF’s Article on Blog Safety, TOR.
- ^ For an example of a brief moving to protect an anonymous post.
- ^ First Amendment
- ^ McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission 514 U.S. 334 (1995).
- ^ Id. at 342.
- ^ Id. at 357.
- ^ See, e.g., Doe v. Cahill, 884 A.2d 451 (Del. 2005); Krinsky v. Doe 6, 159 Cal. App. 4th 1154 (2008).