Comments on: Boston-area Blogger Threatened by Town Officials

By: MiriamEllis

MiriamEllis — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 21:07:29 +0000

As Chris points out, a reading of Marty’s comments doesn’t indicate that he’s done anything wrong, dangerous or illegal. It’s absurd if his comment is cause of his identity being demanded. He didn’t threaten anyone or do anything but voice his opinion.

I think it’s a great idea that you’re starting a new category on legal issues, Matt, and why do I get the feeling that the more little local folks blog, the worse governments and ‘big guys’ are going to look by overreacting to anything that bothers them?

By: Jennifer Deseo

Jennifer Deseo — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 22:35:39 +0000

If the municipal government has taken that much interest in Fitzgerald’s site, then she’s doing her job right. Kudos to her!

I don’t believe Fitzgerald is legally obligated to reveal Marty’s true identity. However, she does have the right to edit or delete Marty’s comments if he wanders into slander/libel territory, preferably with disclosure that the content was edited.

By: Chris Silver Smith

Chris Silver Smith — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 22:18:06 +0000

Wow! So, I clicked through your link to read the comments by “Marty”, to see if there were any grounds for demanding that their identity be revealed, and I don’t believe there are. I don’t see Marty posting threats, nor committing libel/slander as far as I can tell.

If there isn’t something actionable being done by “Marty”, then I don’t think there is any justification to demand that their identity be revealed. Embarrassing public officials is not grounds for demanding their identity, I believe.

If officials truly are not following the law and are being wishy-washy in the process to select police chiefs and such, I think they need to take their lumps and leave the blogger alone.