Texas judge orders site to identify anonymous trolls, flamers

The right to flame someone online has typically been protected by the courts, but a Texas judge has decided enough is enough when it comes to 178 anonymous commenters on Topix.com. The site has less than a month to hand over identifying information about the Internet trolls.

[Im retired]

If you have such a soft shell, stay off topix. Why would you waste the courts time with such trivial
nonsense? People like this are whats destroying our
court systems.

[Rylyn A]

Are they saying they actually give 2 turds about what other people think??

[Peacock]

I thought we all had freedom of speech.

[Im retired]

Peacock wrote:

I thought we all had freedom of speech.

Not for long, enjoy it while you can.

[FreeThought]

How stupid. If they are innocent then that's the end of it. To go after what some passersby say on the Internet is absurd.

Are they also going to sue the newspaper for reporting it in the first place??

[Audacity]

how does topix know who is posting comments?
if they can trace the ip address it only leads to the ISP (internet service provider) then they must got to the ISP and subpeona records from them, those may or may not be available.
then IF those records are available, and they can track it back to the "account holder" of that IP address... how do they KNOW for certain that the person who is named as the account holder is the ACTUAL PERSON posting,
I mean, maybe the teenage kid is posting, or maybe the guys wife, or yet again maybe the neighbor stopped by to check their email and decided to jump over to the topix site and do some damage.
this is absolutely absurd that this idiot would waste tax payer dollars on trivial garbage like this...
let 'um. and then let him PROVE BEYOND A DOUBT it is the person accused!
someone ought to send this judge a copy of the Constitution...

[sarah-lee]

I wouldn't say too much
They might sue us too...

[Orwells Ghost]

BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU!!!!!!!!!!

[John]

Audacity wrote:

let 'um. and then let him PROVE BEYOND A DOUBT it is the person accused!
someone ought to send this judge a copy of the Constitution...

They don't have to prove beyond a doubt. The saying your thinking of is beyond a reasonable doubt and it is the burden of proof in criminal cases.

This is a civil case, the level is that of a preponderance of evidence.. They will ask you and perhaps others in your house who typed it.

[Im retired]

Audacity wrote:

how does topix know who is posting comments?
if they can trace the ip address it only leads to the ISP (internet service provider) then they must got to the ISP and subpeona records from them, those may or may not be available.
then IF those records are available, and they can track it back to the "account holder" of that IP address... how do they KNOW for certain that the person who is named as the account holder is the ACTUAL PERSON posting,
I mean, maybe the teenage kid is posting, or maybe the guys wife, or yet again maybe the neighbor stopped by to check their email and decided to jump over to the topix site and do some damage.
this is absolutely absurd that this idiot would waste tax payer dollars on trivial garbage like this...
let 'um. and then let him PROVE BEYOND A DOUBT it is the person accused!
someone ought to send this judge a copy of the Constitution...

Did you see the story a while back about the black guy that hanged himself on the webcam. Someone called 911 when he started saying he was going to do it. They showed up at his address 10 min later. How is that possible? How the hell did they know where he was?

[Truth be known]

If you ask me its a deliberate attempt to try and close this website down.

[MomGrandma]

I don't think most of us pay attention to the obviously childish rantings of some commenters that are for attention or just plain moronic.

[BlackRacismisali ve]

Peacock wrote:

I thought we all had freedom of speech.

We should

[WillB]

not suprising. i want to see more of this. Michael Vick can make good money with the amount of death threats and threats of violence i read here. and other people with other crimes who people advocated draconian punishments

[The Dude]

This is absurd. I will never give up my right to say what I want, when I want, to whom ever I want. I did not serve this country to have my rights stripped away by some judge who has real cases to worry about. This is bullsh!t...

[WillB]

The Dude wrote:

This is absurd. I will never give up my right to say what I want, when I want, to whom ever I want. I did not serve this country to have my rights stripped away by some judge who has real cases to worry about. This is bullsh!t...

food for thought... The people who are suing are attorneys. Piss off a lawyer and get sued.

[Kudos_exclamatio n_mark]

Don't like accountability? Don't be mean and vile!
I wish them the luck they'll need.

[Orwells Ghost]

The guy who is suing appears to be an attorney. IIRC, weren't the Yahoo News message boards shut down by a libel lawsuit filed by an attorney?

It's always the few who ruin it for the many.

[Freedom Lover]

The Dude wrote:

This is absurd. I will never give up my right to say what I want, when I want, to whom ever I want. I did not serve this country to have my rights stripped away by some judge who has real cases to worry about. This is bullsh!t...

Just because you pumped gas into an APV doesn't give you the right to say what you want, when you want, to whom ever you want, unless, of course, you are immune to an a$$ whipping. Outside of the protection from Govt as allowed for in the 1st....true free speech comes with consequences.

This case will not get any traction. There was no quantifiable harm nor did these people suffer any real loss....other than pride....too bad the court doesn't recognize that.

[Orwells Ghost]

sarah-lee wrote:

I wouldn't say too much
They might sue us too...

And WHADDAYA MEAN BY THAT! Are you saying I was gonna post something mean? Were you saying you were going to? Where were you on the night on Feb 27 1999? Did you ever have sexual relations with that woman? Do you confirm that you deny that you confirm that? Can you prove that?!