HuffPo Next Month to Require Commenters to Use Real Names

Photo credit: Wikipedia

Beginning in September, the Huffington Post will require commenters on their posts to use their full given names, founder Arianna Huffington said yesterday.

As reported in The Boston Globe and elsewhere, HuffPo, which claims to have generated more than 260 million comments on its posted stories (& sideboob images of celebs of the Miley Cyrus & Rhianna ilk, no doubt) since its inception in 2005, will no longer allow comments by pseudonymous posters. Presently, the mega-news aggregator employs 40 human monitors and an advanced screening algorithm, but Huffington says more is needed in our ever-coarsening culture.

The Globe story quoted Huffington as saying: "I feel that freedom of expression is given to people who stand up for what they say and not hiding behind anonymity."

The U.S. Supreme Court did not share those sentiments in McIntyre v. Ohio Election Commission, 514 U.S. 334, 341-42 (1995). Anonymity, the High Court said, "exemplifies the purpose behind the Bill of Rights and of the First Amendment in particular." In leaving it up to authors to decide whether to identify themselves, the Court wrote: "Under our Constitution, 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."

Keep that in mind, Arianna, when you ask followers to add monikers to their reactions to stories such as Jen Aniston Wows in white bikini.

Federal Judge Stays Order Identifying Anonymous Wikipedia Editors in Trademark Infringement Case

Image via WikipediaUnited States District Court Judge for the District of Colorado Christine Arguello this week stayed a magistrate's order that would have required  Internet Service Provider Skybeam to disclose the identities of anonymous Wikipedia editors who claimed Facconable USA Corporation sympathized with a terrorist organization.

In Facconable USA Corporation v. John Does 1-10 (Case No. 1:11-cv-00941-CMA-BNB), the plaintiff, part of the M1 Group owned by Najib Makati, Lebanon's Prime Minister, sued anonymous posters who submitted an entry on the company's Wikipedia page alleging that Facconable USA Corp.'s parent M1 Group "is purported to be a strong supporter of Hezbollah," according to Courthouse News Service.  The plaintiff's 9-page complaint includes counts alleging a trademark infringement violation of the Lanham Act [15 U.S.C. sec. 1125(a)], trade libel and violation of Colorado's Consumer Protection Act [C.R.S. sec. 6-1-101 et seq.].

A magistrate granted plaintiff's request for expedited discovery, ordering ISP Skybeam to reveal the IP addresses identifying the anonymous posters by June 3.  Skybeam, assisted by Public Citizen, sought judicial review of the denial of their motion for a protective order.

Judge Arguello granted a stay of the magistrate's order, relying on four factors: 1)the likelihood of success of the ISP's appeal; 2)whether irreparable harm would occur if the stay were denied; 3)the absence of harm to opposing parties if the stay were granted and 4)the risk of harm to the public interest. Judge Arguello concluded the anonymous posters' First Amendment rights to speak anonymously would be compromised if the magistrate's order went forward, whereas the only harm to the plaintiff in allowing the stay would be a slight delay of its litigation.