Google Forced to Reveal Identity of Blogger

A New York court today ordered Google to reveal the identity of a blogger, following a lawsuit brought forth by a Canadian model. The lawsuit claimed that she could not sue the blogger for defamation and damaging comments if she didn't know the identity of the blogger responsible for the damaging posts.

Google issued this statement in regards to the judgment: “We sympathize with anyone who may be the victim of cyberbullying. We also take great care to respect privacy concerns and will only provide information about a user in response to a subpoena or other court order. If content is found by a court to be defamatory, we will of course remove it immediately.”

So this tells me Google is reticent to rat us out; but still in the end, they like us, are subject to the rules of the courts.

If courts start handing out judgments of this kind who's to say that politicians, foreign nations or anybody with a little bit of a reason can't file the same complaint and have my identity revealed?

While this isn't exactly a landmark judgment it certainly sets a dangerous precedent for those of us who use this platform to express our opinions and beliefs that are not always in line with the mainstream. On the other hand, victims of cyberbullying should be allowed to face their bullies and have their day in court.

Either way, this judgment scares me a little.

(quote from the Globe and Mail)