Rosemary Port to sue google?

2009-08-24T11:13:00.000-07:00

As a new blogger on the scene, I found myself coming across the extraordinary story of Rosemary Port. The main points to note surrounding her story are that for a time she had been giving her opinions and observations of several individuals in the world of fashion. Now, all the while Rosemary felt that whatever her thoughts may be, she had a level of protection of her identity no matter what she blogged about. Liskula Cohen who was the subject of Rosemary's blog found herself chasing the identity of the anonymous blogger who had written the defamatory material.
To the surprise of Rosemary, a New York court held that Google must provide the identity of Rosemary, despite her attempts to justify what was written.

Now, one of the fundamental reasons I find myself writing a blog is to say exactly what i feel about any subject, individual or institution. The reason for using a blog to do this, is being able to reach more people to share and get feedback from. I have neither the time, energy or will to discuss this matter on a soap box in the middle of London.
Firstly, the point of a blog subject is that you may stumble across it, search or share an interest with the blogger etc and find yourself reading what they have to say. The soap box method could in theory upset and disturb some people, and miss the target audience. Depending on how strong the opinion is, using a blog minimises offence that may be caused to the general public.

Now the flip side. Perhaps Rosemary should have considered that her idea of a blog being a"modern-day forum for conveying personal opinions, including invective and ranting" and not to be treated as factual assumptions may not be applicable in this instance. The courts in my opinion did not consider her plea for anonymity, they decided that Rosemary's constant defaming of Liskula Cohen had to result in some kind of consequence. Rosemary will not be experiencing anymore legal action from Liskula Cohen herself, as she declared due to Rosemary being a complete stranger there is no point. Now if the former Vogue model seeks the identity of someone writing defamatory material and posting pictures on a blog, it is reasonable that perhaps she feared for her safety to some extent. If there was a possibility of this, it is understandable why she took this to court.

Now what is an open subject for debate is Rosemary suing Google for £9 million. The fight will be over a blogger's expectation of anonymity, and Google obeying a New York court Judge.

Now, lets tear & share!

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Rosemary Port to sue google?