Internet Anonymity, Reputation, and Freedom of Speech: The US Legal Landscape

Abstract

The ability to “speak” anonymously has long been a valued component of United States political discourse. From the early days of anonymous pamphleteering, courts and scholars have recognized that sometimes speech will be less hindered and be more candid where there is no demand for the speaker to identify himself. In fact, courts in the United States have explicitly recognized the right to speak anonymously as extending to speech on the Internet. But not all anonymous Internet posts are speech, and not all speech is beneficial speech. In fact, some postings might fall into the criminal area, while some might be defamatory. Others, while not outright defamatory, might yet be injurious to the reputations of individuals and corporations. This paper addresses three major concerns and analyzes the legal responses to those concerns in the United States: (a) the protection of individual and corporate reputation in the face of online anonymity, (b) the protection of online anonymity in the face of legal challenges, and (c) the effect the Internet has on jurisdiction in online anonymity litigation. The paper approaches the analytical task by legal analysis, reviewing some of the state and federal laws regarding online anonymity passed in US legislatures, as well as court opinions addressing the subject. Where available, laws within an international context are also analyzed. The laws were accessed by a search of the Westlaw legal database using focused search query strings to address the three concerns.