Anonymity

A Lesson in Metadata: Harvard Bomb Hoax

[We are delighted to run this piece by our friend and Berkman Center colleague Ryan Budish - eds.]

Jurisdiction: 

Content Type: 

Subject Area: 

An Increase in Infringement or the Promotion of Censorship? The Growing Tension of VPN Use

In the days of unwarranted government surveillance and elaborate data collection, people increasingly rely on anonymizing services to keep their online activities private, such as proxy servers, encrypted cloud storage, and virtual private networks. Virtual private networks, or VPNs, route online communications through a secure and encrypted private network to a remote server (sometimes in a jurisdiction with greater protection for freedom of speech or weaker law enforcement).

Jurisdiction: 

Subject Area: 

When Comments Turn Ugly: Newspaper Websites and Anonymous Speech

Dan Kennedy has reported on an interesting anonymous speech issue brewing (or perhaps already boiled over) in the town of Cohasset, Massachusetts.

Jurisdiction: 

Subject Area: 

Britain's New Libel Bill: Better on Libel Tourism, But Worse on Anonymous Online Speech

Britain's effort to reform its defamation laws and shed London's title of "libel capital of the world" has been chugging along for several years, but now it looks like it's in sight of the last stop: The government unveiled its proposed new defamation bill in early May.  So what has all this time and effort wrought?

Jurisdiction: 

Subject Area: 

Ron Paul Campaign Gets a Lesson on Civil Liberties

Ron Paul's presidential campaign has been having a rough go of it: He has yet to win a Republican state primary or caucus.  But now his campaign's also-ran streak extends into the courtroom too, in a victory for the right to anonymous free speech.

Jurisdiction: 

Content Type: 

Subject Area: 

The Curious Case of the D.C. District's Anonymity Orders

Magnifying glass and reflection by ◄bl►

Just before Christmas 2011, a federal magistrate working under D.C. District Court issued a… curious ruling. The case is Hard Drive v. Does 1-1,495, another one of these mass-joinder copyright-infringement cases. I recommend hitting that link for the full story, but here's the basic sketch:

Jurisdiction: 

Subject Area: 

Live Tweeting from the ‘Restaurant of Broken Dreams’

When web developer Andy Boyle overheard a couple discussing their marital woes in a Burger King in Boston on Nov. 7, he immediately recognized the entertainment value and began tweeting a play-by-play.

Jurisdiction: 

Content Type: 

Subject Area: 

ISP Gets Identity-Seeking Subpoena Vacated

Clapping by TheGiantVermin, on Flickr From the credit-where-credit's-due department (with the requisite hat-tip to David Ardia's Twitter account):

Jurisdiction: 

Content Type: 

Subject Area: 

At the Intersection of Anti-SLAPP and Anonymity

Slap! by Vermin Inc, on Flickr

Consider two cases: In Colorado, clothing company Façonnable is attempting to sue an anonymous Wikipedia editor (or, possibly, more than one; the number is sort of up in the air) over some unflattering edits to the company's Wikipedia page. But first, Façonnable has to figure out who the editors are--thus, a subpoena to the ISP allegedly attached to the editors' IP address.

Jurisdiction: 

Subject Area: 

Pages

Subscribe to Anonymity