EFF Seeks to Protect ID of Blogging Development Opponents

Image by A Gude via Flickr

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and local counsel want to quash subpoenas that would identify anonymous bloggers who are critical of a Chicago development project.

In Fix Wilson Yard, Inc. et al v. City of Chicago et al. (Docket No. 2008-CH-45023), the EFF wants a Cook County Illinois Circuit Judge to toss six subpoenas to Google aimed at Websites including www.uptownupdate.com and www.buenaparkneighbors.org, sought by defendant firms linked to Chicago developer Peter Holsten. The subpoenas want the identities of anonymous online critics of the Wilson Yard project and its chief sponsor, Alderman Helen Shiller.

The EFF contends that identifying the online critcs has no bearing on the litigation, which involves land-use ordinances, and abridges the First Amendment rights of the anonymous opponents of the project.