Internet trolls, anonymity and The First Amendment

[BvBPL]

I would like to know if there ever been any ruling on whether if any newspaper isn't or is obligated to grant people's rights to post on their website anonymously?

There probably is nothing of that which exist.

You’re probably right that this hasn’t been tested in the courts, but there is no reason to assume that newspapers, or any other publisher, do not have the right to exclude anonymous comments from their websites. Newspapers can already, and do, state that they will not publish anonymous letters to the editor, and websites also oblige posters to maintain a standard of conduct and threaten posters with deletion if they fail to do so. There’s no reason why such a standard of conduct cannot include stating one’s full name and agreeing to have it published.

Furthermore, you do not have a “right” to post to a newspaper’s web page. The newspaper may extend you a privilege to do so, but they can (usually) revoke it at any time.

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Just for clarification: you do have a right to publish anonymously. You do not have an absolute right to do so using someone else’s hardware (printing press or internet web page), although the owner of such hardware may extend that privilege to you.

A newspaper may protect the anonymity of anything you publish anonymously on its website against subpoena or other disclosure, but this protection is granted through state level shield laws, not federal or constitutional law, so the actual protection granted may vary from locale to locale. Also, since such protection is granted through media shield laws, it is possible that your anonymous post on a newspaper’s website may be protected, but your blog or your forum post might not receive the same protection.

 

[Thoughtful Thug]

You’re probably right that this hasn’t been tested in the courts, but there is no reason to assume that newspapers, or any other publisher, do not have the right to exclude anonymous comments from their websites. Newspapers can already, and do, state that they will not publish anonymous letters to the editor, and websites also oblige posters to maintain a standard of conduct and threaten posters with deletion if they fail to do so. There’s no reason why such a standard of conduct cannot include stating one’s full name and agreeing to have it published.

Furthermore, you do not have a “right” to post to a newspaper’s web page. The newspaper may extend you a privilege to do so, but they can (usually) revoke it at any time.

--

Just for clarification: you do have a right to publish anonymously. You do not have an absolute right to do so using someone else’s hardware (printing press or internet web page), although the owner of such hardware may extend that privilege to you.

A newspaper may protect the anonymity of anything you publish anonymously on its website against subpoena or other disclosure, but this protection is granted through state level shield laws, not federal or constitutional law, so the actual protection granted may vary from locale to locale. Also, since such protection is granted through media shield laws, it is possible that your anonymous post on a newspaper’s website may be protected, but your blog or your forum post might not receive the same protection.

I am one of those guys that do believe that the communications medium, the internet, is not in anyway the same as other technological achievement as the radio and television to name a few; and that we now have a chance to displace not only territorial boundaries, but also private organizations such as the Washington Times and other major online newspapers that seek to continue their dominance of the practice of polarization in what could potentially be a revolution of many people from many places in the world holding many cultural and political differences. To keep the internet free from the interference of governments having to place bordered Internet to all of its constituents in the name of "safety and harm", will only result of people having less access to each other, and the inability to learn about each other better.