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Suit Targets Anonymous Discussion Board Postings
Two Yale law students have filed suit in Connecticut District Court against the operator of the Internet discussion board AutoAdmit.com and 28 pseudonymous defendants in connection with a series of vulgar and harassing postings that allegedly appeared on the site over a period of two years. The causes of action include unreasonable publicity given to another’s life, publicity that places another in a false light before the public, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, defamation, appropriation of another’s name or likeness and copyright infringement. The copyright claim is based on allegations that defendants posted copies of photos of one of the plaintiffs (obtained, according to some sources, from the plaintiff’s Facebook page) without her consent. The complaint alleges that the operators of the site refused to take down the postings despite the plaintiffs’ requests. Because the AutoAdmit site permits users to post anonymously, subpoenas to ISPs and others would be needed to discover the identities of the 28 defendants who are identified in the complaint only by the pseudonyms under which they posted. Commentators interested in the implications for anonymous Internet chat rooms have suggested that for these defendants, the reputational impact of having their identities revealed could be as severe as any judgment that the court might impose if the case went to trial.
For a copy of the complaint, visit:
http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/aaComplaint.pdf