Shield law protects commenters - or maybe not · 12 February 09
A decision in Multnomah County Circuit Court appears to call into question recent protections allowed to anonymous posters on news web sites in another court.
Earlier this year I wrote about a court ruling in Clackamas County that anonymous comments on news media web sites are protected by Oregon’s shield law. The law is intended to protect journalists’ ability to shield confidential sources but it also extends to anyone “employed by or engaged in any medium of communication to the public.”
In a case involving the police tasering of a cyclist who later landed in Multnomah County Circuit Court on charges, “prosecuting attorney Ryan Lufkin found the witness by subpoenaing the commentor’s IP address and info from bikeportland,” according to this update at the end of a story by the Mercury. Though the cyclist’s attorney tried to suppress the witness based on the Clackamas County ruling, that motion was denied by Judge Youlee You. Mercury writer Sarah Mirk notes, “What this all means for the precedent of protecting blog commentors info under shield law is unclear, but it seems like a strike against the protection the papers won in court.”
