Freehold, NJ - On Friday, December 21, at 10:30 a.m. ET, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) will urge a Superior Court judge in New Jersey to preserve the free speech rights of an anonymous blogger facing legal threats from local government officials.
The blogger, writing as "daTruthSquad" on a site hosted on Google's Blogspot service, has strongly criticized a controversial malpractice lawsuit filed by the township of Manalapan against its former city attorney. Despite having no evidence to back up its accusation that the blogger is actually the former attorney in the case, the township has subpoenaed Google for "daTruthSquad's" identity, as well as for any emails, blog drafts, and other information Google has about the blogger.
Anonymous communications have an important place in our political and social discourse, and the Supreme Court has ruled repeatedly that the right to anonymous free speech is protected by the First Amendment. In Friday's hearing, EFF will ask the judge to block the township's subpoena and allow "daTruthSquad" to continue to write about this or any other issue without being forced to identify him or herself.
WHAT:
Manalapan v. Moskovitz
WHEN:
10:30 a.m., Eastern Time
Friday, December 21
WHERE:
Monmouth County Courthouse
Courtroom 226-S
71 Monument Park
Freehold, NJ
