Use and misuse of an anonymous blog

I blog anonymously here at SLC.  Family and friends know who I am but I don't post my real name.  Why?  Am I afraid of my name being known?  Not really.  Am I hiding behind a pseudonym?  Maybe, sort of.  Here's the deal.  I work for a large corporation and in a capacity where some might - wrongly - associate my opinions with my employer.  I simply don't want that to happen but I do want to engage in public debate.  That, I believe, is the proper use of an anonymous blog account.

An example of improper use of an anonymous blog account is noted in these stories from the New York Post and Daily News.  Some idiot is using his (or her) blog pages to denigrate women, publish their photos, and call them names.  One victim, model Likula Cohen, has had enough and is attempting to force Google (which runs blogger.com - the service used for SLC, by the way) to identify the blogger.  She believes that she has been libeled and, in fact, she may have been.

The anonymity provided by the web is important but also dangerous.  It cannot and should not be used as a shield for publication of libelous material.  The losers who use anonymous blogs to do so should forfeit their anonymity and face the music in court.

But, these bad apples should be used as reasons to attack the freedom of anonymous bloggers - like me - to engage in legitimate public speech.  Cohen's lawyer put it well . . . "The law protects freedom of speech, including anonymous speech, but it doesn't protect defamation, and people should not think that they can defame others on the Internet or on blogs by hiding behind a screen name."

Good luck Liskula . . . but may your case's holding be limited to its facts.