October 17, 2000
full article at http://nytimes.com
Corporate Case in Ohio Raises Questions on Internet Anonymity By JOHN SCHWARTZ
John Hritz wants to get to know Jane Doe.
Jane Doe is the pseudonym for an Internet user who posted messages critical of Mr. Hritz and the company he serves as a general counsel, AK Steel of Middletown, Ohio.
Like many publicly traded companies, AK Steel, which makes products for cars, appliances and other uses, is the subject of a message board on Yahoo. And as with many online forums, the discussion there tends toward the bareknuckled. In one message, Jane Doe wrote that Mr. Hritz "will litigate the time of day."
In fact, Mr. Hritz has gone to court over that comment and others, claiming that the Doe postings are "threatening, libelous and disparaging." But even before actually filing a lawsuit, Mr. Hritz has asked Ohio's state courts to unmask Jane Doe's identity. Civil liberties groups are banding together to try to keep the identity a secret.
>From the content of the messages, it is evident that Jane Doe works for AK
Steel. And Jane Doe's lawyers contend that Mr. Hritz's actual intention is
to find and punish an errant employee.
Lawsuits to pierce the veil of anonymity online are increasingly common in the Internet age. But two advocacy groups involved in workplace and online issues, Public Citizen and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, argue that the AK Steel request goes too far, giving companies the power to silence corporate critics whether or not a case will ever be filed.