Cheap Ass Subpoena
Posted in Cheap Ass Gamer, New Complaint, Subpoena
Cheap Ass Gamer (”CAG”) has reported via its latest “CAGcast” and on their site that Circuit City has issued a subpoena for any information regarding forum member “speedy1961.” In an interview, CAG CEO David Abrams told Laws of Play that “Circuit City wants me to hand over any personal information about speedy that I might have.” Circuit City wants the information because speedy1961 reportedly released Circuit City print ads to readers of CAG via the forums before they were publicly available. Though Abrams says he has yet to see the full complaint he is sure of his response either way.
We will do whatever we can (within the law, of course) to protect our users’ identity.
Noting also that he would not have hired lawyers if he wasn’t interested in protecting his forum users privacy, as turning the information over would have been much cheaper. Abrams and his lawyers have not yet responded, but he says “my lawyers are working on [a response], though I can’t reveal exactly what that is going to be at the moment.” As far as Abrams knows, Circuit City has not issued any other subpoenas concerning “speedy1961″ and he believes that speedy is the only one mentioned. Abrams will discuss the case further on the next CAGcast.
As far as the legality of this, the discussion is best left to lawyers (or other members of the site who are in law school) but forum members’ privacy is a tricky issue, especially if the forum member is breaking the law. If speedy1961 was breaking the law is it right for CAG to withhold the information? Does Circuit City have any right to request information that is held in confidence from the get go? Where does freedom of speech fall into all of this? Clearly blogger identity is a tricky subject though most people would probably side with speedy on this one, so the court of public opinion is probably already adjourned. Either way, with blogging becoming the hip new place to be and companies actually paying attention to the Internet, it might be a good idea to be careful about what you post.
