Idea Lab

CMLP Leads Amicus Effort Promoting Rights of Anonymous Speakers in Illinois

by David Ardia
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

In a case involving important First Amendment rights, the Citizen Media Law Project joined a number of media and advocacy organizations, including Gannett Co., Inc., Hearst Corporation, Illinois Press Association, Online News Association, Public Citizen, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and Tribune Company, in asking an Illinois appellate court to protect the rights of anonymous speakers online by imposing procedural safeguards before requiring that their identities be disclosed. The amicus coalition, represented by Harvard Law School's Cyberlaw Clinic, submitted a "friend of the court" brief yesterday in the case of Maxon v. Ottawa Publishing. The case is before the...

• March 25, 2009
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CMLP Legal Guide: Deciding Whether and How to be Anonymous

by David Ardia
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

In light of Dan Schultz's excellent post entitled Anonymous vs. Scientology: A Case Study of Digital Media, I've decided to focus my post this week on the legal and practical issues you should consider if you wish to engage in anonymous speech online. This is the third in a series of posts I've put up highlighting some of the topics covered in the Citizen Media Law Project's recently launched Citizen Media Legal Guide. In the first two posts I discussed choosing a business form for your online activities and the legal issues associated with selecting a platform for online speech....

• February 17, 2008
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