Lawsuit seeks hidden names on internet forums

Lawsuit seeks hidden names on internet forums

In an online world where people can post derogatory, vindictive and
misleading comments and then duck behind aliases, one Vance County
man is challenging whether web forum moderators can be forced to
reveal identities of those posters.

Thomas S. Hester Jr., a former Vance County commissioner seeking
election again, filed suit earlier this year complaining that commenters
under such aliases as "Fatboy," "Pearl," "The Real Deal" and "Ziggy"
made defamatory comments about him on a real estate website.

The case represents one man's quest to rid the Internet of disparaging
posts about his rental properties. But it touches on broad issues of
how much anonymity the Internet provides and whether you can
really ever know the identity of the person at the keyboard.

www.newsobserver.com...

I find this very troubling.
I hope this does not happen
cuz if it does, the case will be used
as a standard for other cases
in the future. It is scary to think
we may never get to post with an
alias again.

He shouldnt be a greedy turd and sell crap property

By the way he can sue my ass here in China....

Edit to say please post his campain details so i can give him my utmost suppport in his challenge to the world wide internet

[edit on 14-7-2010 by Master Shen long]

Oh please. This man is going to try and fight the internet? Give it a rest already.

I know nobody in their right mind would support this, after all, I'm sure if he were to reveal aliases he uses online it would lead to some very 'interesting' sites.

Look at it this way: the owners of a website can't give out info they don't have. Just don't use your real credentials anywhere and they'll be nothing to hand over to the authorities.




TheAssoc.

Originally posted by TheAssociate
Look at it this way: the owners of a website can't give out info they don't have. Just don't use your real credentials anywhere and they'll be nothing to hand over to the authorities.

TheAssoc.

sorry to tell you buddy but they do have it, owners of websites you visit have your ip address and that means your home address and name to the police. that is if the courts rule it legal for that info to be disclosed, anonymity in this world nowadays is never anything more then a thin veil anymore and most often only an illusion.

if your input in forums are causing severe harm or damage to other people, authorities can track you down anyways.
like that woman who brought a teenager to commit suicide via an internet relationship.



[edit on 14-7-2010 by icepack]

Well, boondock...another great find.

Goes to show there is more than garbage threads here on ATS lately.
And I've been seeing way too many.

But, think of it this way...
If people lose their anonymity in the Internet,
All those Congressmen would lose out because we would instantly know about their affairs and 'aides'...

So you know this won't gather steam.


:up

[edit on 14-7-2010 by havok]

Originally posted by pryingopen3rdeye
sorry to tell you buddy but they do have it, owners of websites you visit have your ip address and that means your home address and name to the police.

Nope.

www.torproject.org...



Good info for those who aren't aware of how teh interwebz work, though.


TheAssoc.