New Jersey Superior Court Quashes Subpoena to Unmask "daTruthSquad" [1]

According to EFF [2], a New Jersey Superior Court judge quashed a subpoena seeking the identity of anonymous blogger "daTruth Squad" on Friday. The blogger had criticized a malpractice lawsuit filed by the Township of Manalapan, New Jersey against a former city attorney. Then, as part of the same malpractice lawsuit, the Township issued a subpoena to Google (owner of the blog's hosting service) seeking information relating to daTruth Squad's identity. EFF represented the blogger and filed a motion to quash the subpoena [3] on November 28, 2007, arguing among other things that First Amendment protection for anonymous speech barred disclosure of daTruth Squad's identity under the circumstances.

This clearly was a winning argument given that the blogger's criticism had nothing to do with the merits of the underlying malpractice lawsuit, and the Township had not even filed a defamation action (which itself would have been a dubious move). The New Jersey court apparently granted the motion, but it is not clear whether it issued a written decision. We'll keep an eye out for it -- it could be another victory for anonymous speech along the lines of Cahill [4], Dendrite [5], and Mobilisa [6].