[Gnso-ppsai-pdp-wg] Case barring revealing identities by Yelp

[Kathy Kleiman]

Hi All,
This is a case I have been meaning to share -- a decision of my state 
court (the Virginia Supreme Court) ruling that a judge did not have the 
authority to compel Yelp to reveal the identities of anonymous users who 
panned an Alexandria, Virginia carpet-cleaning company called Hadeed. As 
the Washington Post noted, this is "a case closely watched by 
free-speech advocates and businesses alike."

The case does not mean that there is no ability to access the identity 
of the speakers (criticizers, in this case, of Hadeed), but under what 
laws does the request have to be evaluated? Paul Alan Levy, a well known 
attorney working for the advocacy group Public Citizen and representing 
Yelp (and its Customers), "welcomed the ruling, saying ­Hadeed would 
have to pursue the reviewers’ identities in California courts, which set 
a higher bar for revealing the identities of people making anonymous 
speech."

The issues that the Virginia Supreme Court debated will sound very 
familiar --

"Hadeed subpoenaed the reviewers’ identities from Yelp, and an 
Alexandria Circuit Court judge ordered that the information be turned over.

Yelp refused to comply with the ruling, saying it would appeal to 
protect its users’ First Amendment right to speak anonymously.

Yelp and free-speech advocates said revealing the names of the reviewers 
would have a chilling effect on anonymous speech on the Web."*

Happy reading -- 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/yelp-wont-have-to-turn-over-names-of-anonymous-users-after-court-ruling/2015/04/16/aeb322c6-e39a-11e4-b510-962fcfabc310_story.html
Kathy

*All quotes from the Washington Post article...