“Skank” Blogger Suing Google for $15M for Breach of Anonymity
I’m somewhat blown away by the hypocrisy of Rosemary Port–the blogger uncovered as the author of Skanks in NYC.
What’s your reaction to this statement by Port:
"…Without any warning, I was put on a silver platter for the press to attack me. I would think that [Google] would protect the rights of all its users."
We’ll get to her planned $15 million lawsuit against Google in a minute, but first…
REALLY?
She was put on a platter for the press to attack her? Did she afford Liskula Cohen anything different?
OK, back to the lawsuit. Port is threatening…
…she’ll charge Google "breached its fiduciary duty to protect her expectation of anonymity," said her high-powered attorney Salvatore Strazzullo. "I’m ready to take this all the way to the Supreme Court," Strazzullo said.
I’m not an attorney, but Richard Koman is, and he’s placing Port in a "legal time-out":
To create such a relationship between a company and someone who creates a free blogging account makes a mockery of the relationship. And what is the duty to protect anonymity? That is definitely not listed in the treatises’ lists of fiduciary duties.
At this point, you’d think this scandal is about to become one big mess of lawsuits, but at least one has been taken off the table. Having publicly outed Port, Cohen has decided not to pursue any legal action against her.
So, now we’re just left with the following to work out. Does a blogger have the right to anonymity? And, does Google have a fiduciary responsibility to protect that anonymity?
