Anonymous internet? Google coughs up blogger's identity

August 20, 2009

In a court decision that has gained the attention of bloggers and internet users in the U.S. and Canada, a New York Supreme Court judge ruled this week that internet giant Google had to disclose the identity of a blogger in a defamation lawsuit.

The lawsuit was brought by Canadian-born model Liskula Cohen, who sued to find the identity of a blogger who posted disparaging remarks and photos of her on a blog hosted by Google. The court ordered Google to hand over the IP address and email address of the blogger to Cohen's lawyers, according to the National Post.

Now, bloggers and other commenters at websites across the internet are weighing in on the decision that some say means internet anonymity is threatened by the decision.

"Anonymity is such an ingrained part of our online experience, people think it'll never change," wrote Lance Ulanoff in a web column on PCmag.com. "But like our polar ice caps, the certainty that we have the right to remain anonymous online may be slowly melting away."

But the notion of anonymity on the internet is largely a myth, according to groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Search companies like Google collect and store search queries and cookies stored on your PC keep track of the sites visited.

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