NEW YORK – When two beautiful women quarrel, the squabble is sure to catch the attention of the public. In the case of a recent war of words between two members of New York City’s fashion scene, however, that squabble could have an impact on whether anonymous bloggers can expect to stay anonymous.So far the answer is a resounding “Nope!”
Blogger and fashion industry veteran Rosemary Port was outed recently when a federal judge ordered Google to reveal her identity. The order came after model Liskla Cohen, who was ridiculed on Port’s “Skanks in NYC” blog, filed suit in court demanding the identity of her tormentor. Cohen claimed the blog attacked her “appearance, hygiene and sexual conduct.”
Since the blog was hosted at Blogger.com, which is owned and operated by Google, the suit pushed the tech giant into the middle of the fight; at first the company defended Port’s anonymity, then later complied with the court order to release her identity.
“When I was being defended by attorneys for Google, I thought my right to privacy was being protected,” Port said. “But that right fell through the cracks. Without any warning, I was put on a silver platter for the press to attack me. I would think that a multi-billion dollar conglomerate would protect the rights of all its users.”
Now Port has filed her own suit – against Google. She’s seeing 15 million in damages, and her attorney Salvatore Strazzullo says he’s willing to take this case all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.
“Our Founding Fathers wrote ‘The Federalist Papers’ under pseudonyms,” Strazzullo argued. “Inherent in the First Amendment is the right to speak anonymously. Shouldn’t that right extend to the new public square of the Internet?”
In another case of blog backlash this month, former anonymous blogger Virginia Montanez, who had regularly attacked local Pittsburgh politicians, lost her job after she voluntarily revealed her identity. She said that she had become a distraction that wasn’t needed by the organization where she worked, but held no ill-will towards her former employers.
