Internet Anonymity : Supreme Court Precedent

[Keith Howe <kkhowe@moscow.com>]

There are actually several Supreme Court decisions involving the right to
anonymity and its protection under the First Amendment and other
justifications. These decisions, until overturned by newer precedents,
should probably be our guide to the sanctity of anonymity on the Internet
as a protected right.

In particular, I'm thinking of two cases:

1) Talley v. California, 362 U.S. 60 ( 1960 )

In this case, Talley was convicted of violating a city ordinance which
made it illegal to distribute handbills which did not contain identifying
information. The ordinance was found to be in conflict with earlier
Supreme Court rulings protecting the anonymous distribution of political
handbills, and the judgement was reversed. This case also specifically
cites several earlier cases of a similar nature.

2) McIntyre v. ohio Elections Comm'n ( 1995 )

Essentially the same as the above case, I mention it because it is
relatively recent, and despite a 35 year gap the Supreme Court didn't
hesitate to uphold the precedent determined in the Talley case (actually
citing it foremost as part of their judgement). So at least as recent as
five years ago, the right to distribute an opinion anonymously has been
protected as an essential First Amendement protection to the political
process.


You can find more information about these cases and others at
www.findlaw.com. I happened to do a search for "anonymity" under Supreme
Court Decisions post 1893 and found these among others.