Internet Anonymity/ Privacy: Not as absolute as you'd like to think!

[LL. B. (HME)]

Article in this week's "The Lawyers' Weekly" - Yes, I KNOW you all read it for light entertainment!.....

Apparently, internet anonymity is being challenged more and more succesfully by litigants seeking the perps of internet slander campaigns. Latest in the line of cases is a succesful court motion by Irwin Toys to nail a poster who was trashing their company.

Irwin launched a lawsuit here in TO naming the slanderer as "John Doe". They noted down the ISP for the email account that had been comunicating the alleged slanders. They then served the ISP with dox for a court date to force the ISP to turn over all records for the customer with the account in question.

As is apparently the norm, the ISP didn't contest the motion and Irwin got their order. They now know exactly who the alleged slanderer is and he is in the middle of a big-time lawsuit!

Moral of the story: Don't do anything anonymously, you wouldn't do under your own name!

 

[GlavaMan]

But what if...

...You had an anonymous or false email account & you sent a slanderous email from an internet cafe!

 

[WoodPeckr]

GlavaMan

Kinda like calling from a pay phone........

 

[LL. B. (HME)]

Probably could do.....

Just sign up a quickie hotmail a/c while at the internet cafe. I presume the perp wouldn't give hotmail any true info about himself. The addy would be used only from internet cafe's, university computers, etc.

 

[gramage]

actually university computers would not be safe. As a student to get internet access on campus computers I have to have an account with the school and I log in with my student number and a password (if using sites other then the school home page), so assuming they can trace your emails/posts to the computer they could also find out who was logged into the computer at the time.

 

[Fred Zed]

Re: But what if...

...You had an anonymous or false email account & you sent a slanderous email from an internet cafe!

Most reputable internet cafes have cameras installed and ask you to provide a name, address, and phone number before you can use their services. Depending on how serious your threats are, you may still get caught. Pictures on the camera can be matched with the time your email was sent.

 

[vidi vici veni]

Re: Re: But what if...

Most reputable internet cafes have cameras installed and ask you to provide a name, address, and phone number before you can use their services. Depending on how serious your threats are, you may still get caught. Pictures on the camera can be matched with the time your email was sent.

Fred: When I was having computer troubles, I had occasion to use a couple internet cafes on Yonge Street. I was never asked for anything except the money for time used. They seemed respectable to me, i.e. no hj's, BBBJ's, or full service was offered.

vvv

 

[Fred Zed]

Re: Re: Re: But what if...

Fred: When I was having computer troubles, I had occasion to use a couple internet cafes on Yonge Street. I was never asked for anything except the money for time used.
vvv

Yes, it's the camera that would get you vvv. I have yet to see a netcafe without cameras installed. As I said it's then just a matter of matching the time you email was sent with the pictures on camera at that time. A good camera might even capture you logging into the hotmail page. So, if someone wants you badly enough they can still get ya.

 

[monkeymind]

So in other words, you'd have to wear a false moustache and wig as well.

 

[Dr. Gonzo]

As a former cafe manager, I have to confirm what Fred is saying. Cameras are pretty much standard. As well, it was a dirty little secret that we had copies of Back Orifice installed on every system which would allow us to log all keystrokes, mouse clicks, and activity, plus do screen captures and other neat stuff all from our PC at the front counter. If we coupled that with the information in our time tracking software and membership database we would have everything we needed to ID you.

Now, before anybody freaks about privacy, let me say that actions like this were taken on a complaint basis, or if we had suspicions about certain users. And I'm proud to say we nabbed about 4 pedophiles during the time that we instituted the system, as well as a pretty scary internet stalker type guy. All our information was forwarded to LE and they were all charged. As well when a user logged onto a system they were told that by logging on they were subject to having their online activities monitored. I thought it an absoloutely necessary risk management tool and I think it paid off very well for us. I'm sure this is pretty standard practice with any reputable establishment, whether they are so public about it or not. Unless they don't care about liability and having creepy kiddie porn freaks in their place.

 

[WoodPeckr]

Big Brother is here....

Doc very enlightening info.

Guess the George Orwell classic "1984" was only off about 18 years....

 

[Remo]

Moral of the story: Don't do anything anonymously, you wouldn't do under your own name! [/B]

Alternate Moral as provided by Remo:

Don't be an idiot and learn how to cover your tracks before shooting your mouth off. Especially if its not true and some one can prove that.

 

[Dr. Gonzo]

Guess the George Orwell classic "1984" was only off about 18 years....

Orwell was more a prophet than a writer of fiction, IMHO.....
It was very hard for me to make the decision to set up that system, given my extreme social libertarian views, but at the end of the day it was a business call and we'd gotten some serious legal advice that told us we needed to do something to mitigate those kinds of risks. It made me extremely uncomfortable to do it, but it was much better than having to answer to the owner of the cafe when he gets served with a lawsuit.

And incidentally, I personally fired 2 employees who were running around shooting their mouths off about certain clients surfing habits. Again, most reputable places would do the same thing.

 

[LL. B. (HME)]

From professional curiosity......

...... What type of lawsuit did your counsel tell you you would be hit with?