Unmasking Anonymous Online Speakers "Is Complicated," Kirtley Tells Pioneer Press

Professor Jane Kirtley was quoted in an article in the St. Paul Pioneer Press about an anonymous web site that threatened White Bear Lake mayoral candidates with the release of personal information. Kirtley noted that accurate reports of legally-obtained public record information are protected speech, but warned that erroneous defamatory conclusions drawn from that information may not be. She added that another issue would be trying to determine who the anonymous posters are. "One of the things Web publishers are doing is making practically obscure information very publicly available," she added.