The Delaware Supreme Court yesterday handed down an important ruling that protects anonymous bloggers from attempts to unnmask them through libel lawsuits. This is the first ruling by a state supreme court on this matter. The court said that, if an elected official claims he has been defamed by an anonymous posting on a blog, he cannot use a lawsuit to unmask the writer unless he has substantial evidence to support his claim.
Read more:
- Report by the New York Times.
- Text of the opinion: John Doe No. 1 v. Cahill.
- Further details in an EFF news release.