Don Butler reports:
In a case with implications for online privacy and free expression, a panel of Ottawa judges is considering whether websites named in libel actions should be required to identify people who post anonymous defamatory comments.
Their decision could chill whistleblowers and others who use pseudonyms to post controversial comments, say civil libertarians.
And, they maintain, if the judges support unmasking anonymous posters, that could erode their privacy by allowing others to piece together vast amounts of personal information.
The case arises from a 2007 defamation suit filed by Ottawa lawyer Richard Warman, who is reviled by the far right for his efforts to use human rights law to shut down hatred on the Internet.
Read more in the Montreal Gazette.