With the rapid growth of electronic media and the ability of readers to post comments on newspaper websites, it has become increasingly common for prosecutors and police to use readers’ online comments as an investigative and prosecutorial tool. Whether to identify or locate a potential witness in a case, investigate suspected criminal activity or otherwise, law enforcement authorities now routinely draw from the vast pool of online commentary displayed on media websites. The tension arises, however, when such posters are providing comments anonymously, with the intent and expectation that their identities will remain private.
More and more frequently, prosecutors are issuing subpoenas to newspapers in order to identify and locate anonymous posters. Prosecutors demand that the publications provide the actual identity and/or internet protocol (IP) address of the posters to aid in an investigation.
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