Say Anything Blog

A reminder that, even if you’re posting anonymously, if you post something on the internet you can probably be held accountable for it legally.

Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo says he and some of his officers have been harassed, lied about and had their identities falsely used in online blogs and in reader comment sections on local media Internet sites.

They’ve had enough.

In a meeting this month with department brass, Acevedo and the group discussed how they think such posts erode public trust in the department and how they have been wrongly maligned.

They have since researched their legal options and decided that from now on, they might launch formal investigations into such posts, Acevedo said. He said investigators might seek search warrants or subpoenas from judges to learn the identities of the authors — he thinks some could be department employees — and possibly sue them for libel or file charges if investigators think a crime was committed.

“A lot of my people feel it is time to take these people on,” Acevedo said. “They understand the damage to the organization, and quite frankly, when people are willfully misleading and lying, they are pretty much cowards anyway because they are doing so under the cloak of anonymity.”

On one hand, the idea of cops essentially outing anonymous bloggers and commenters who are critical of them is a bit chilling.  On the other hand, just because you can post anonymously on the internet doesn’t give you license to slander and defame.  I long ago made the decision to write on this blog under my own name, and I’ve at times regretted that decision as I’ve threatened and even banished because of the things I’ve said.  But ultimately I believe that if I’m going to be critical of someone else I’m going to put my name to it and live with the consequences of my words.

What Acevedo and his department is doing may seem a little heavy-handed, but the problems they’re facing aren’t trivial.  As the article notes:

The effort to crack down on potentially illegal statements or comments that are possibly libelous — those published with the goal of defaming a person — is the second time in recent months that the department has confronted new social media.

In March, the social networking site Twitter shut down a fake account that pretended to issue official Austin police bulletins after the department and the Texas attorney general’s office complained.

And there are protections in place for those who are merely hosting the comments or posts in question:

University of Texas law professor David Anderson said the hosts of sites where potentially libelous comments are posted are granted immunity by federal laws. Those who post comments can still be sued, however.

As long as proper warrants are obtained I don’t have a problem with this, I guess.  Is there a potential for intimidation and abuse by the police and other agents of the government?  Sure.  But in libel and slander cases the truth is a defense.  If what the commenters or bloggers are saying is true they don’t have anything to worry about.