Stone v. Hipcheck16 [1]

In November 2009, an Illinois Circuit Court judge ruled that Buffalo Grove [2] Village Trustee Lisa Stone was entitled to pre-suit discovery of the identity of "Hipcheck16," an anonymous commenter who allegedly defamed her son in the comments section of a Daily Herald [3] article.  The comments in question arose in the course of a heated political debate between Hipcheck16 and Ms. Stone's son:

The comments at the heart of the case came at the end of a series of posts between Hipcheck16 and Stone's son, who was concerned about online remarks the teen regarded as critical of his mother.

At one point, the teen asked to know the poster's identity and challenged him to debate the issues in person.

Declining an invitation to pay a visit, Hipcheck16 posted a response that said, according to court documents, "Seems like you're very willing to invite a man you only know from the Internet over to your house -- have you done it before, or do they usually invite you to their house?"

The post then continues with references to the boy's "mommy," saying that statements made by her son may cause her political problems after her election, according to court records. (Chicago Breaking News [4])

According to Chicago Breaking News [4], the newspaper turned over Hipcheck16's IP address, and Stone sought his identity from Comcast.  Although the record is not entirely clear, it looks like counsel for Hipcheck16 then intervened and sought a protective order, which the court denied in November 2009, though the court ruled that only Stone and a process server—should she file eventually file a lawsuit—could learn of Hipcheck16's identity.  

Later in November, the court granted a stay of the order for a month, to give Michael Furlong, Hipcheck16's lawyer, time to appeal.  Furlong told Chicago Breaking News [5] that he intended to appeal.

Update:

03/15/2010 - EFF and The Media Freedom and Information Access Practicum filed an amicus curiae brief [6] in support of Hipcheck16's appeal.