Pennsylvania Appellate Court Embraces First Amendment Protections for Anonymous Speech

From Public Citizen's Consumer Law and Policy Blog:

In a ruling yesterday, the Pennsylvania Superior Court has embraced the majority standard applied by state and federal courts across the country to decide whether a plaintiff in a defamation or other lawsuit should be able to identify the anonymous authors of speech over which the plaintiff wants to sue. The Court therefore held that, on the record of the case, former Scranton City Council President Judy Gatelli could not identify constituents who published scathing criticisms of her conduct in office on a message board attached to the “Doherty Deceit” web site maintained by Scranton resident Joseph Pilchesky.