Originally Posted by
John Pennekamp
This is nothing new. Many "anonymous" message boards have been sued for a member's IP address and email address. Most simply comply with the request to avoid a costly legal bill, throwing the poster under the bus.
That's not quite how it works...
The plaintiff sues the poster, not website operator. The plaintiff is then entitled to gather evidence to support his case.
Usually the "request" would be a subpoena/discovery order...those are not requests, they are court orders which you must comply with. The website operator is not usually getting sued, so he has to comply or face contempt charges...most will not sit in jail to defend some random forum poster whose mouth got the better of his brain.
It would be difficult and unusual to mount a legal defense against a subpoena...you would need to show that the request was not lawful, or that the judge was in collusion with the plaintiff or something like that.