Yahoo Postings Prompt More Lawsuits
Friday July 14, 9:15 am Eastern Time
TheStandard.com
Yahoo Postings Prompt More Lawsuits
biz.yahoo.com
By Elinor Abreu
Credit Suisse First Boston and Informix are the latest
companies to file lawsuits against anonymous posters to
finance-related message boards on Yahoo.
Such message boards are proving to be a hotbed of legal
activity, with companies accusing posters of making
defamatory statements, sharing confidential information and
spreading misinformation to prompt stock sales for their own benefit.
In both of the lawsuits,
Yahoo is being asked to reveal the names of the
anonymous posters.
The company used to make little or no attempt to notify
posters before identifying them, but Yahoo changed its
policy in April so that it now gives users 15 days notice
before revealing their personal information under subpoena.
Yahoo does not comment on lawsuits or subpoenas, according
to spokeswoman Shannon Stubbo.
The Credit Suisse First Boston lawsuit filed Tuesday in
federal court in New York asks for $1 million from a group
of posters who allegedly libeled and defamed the firm by
making numerous derogatory comments about a CSFB analyst.
CSFB declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Informix's lawsuit, filed June 30 in Superior Court in San
Mateo, Calif., requests unspecified damages and states
that its employee-confidentiality agreement had been
breached. The lawsuit also charges that a poster leaked
inside information by stating that Informix's fiscal report
would be weaker than expected, several days before the
company warned that its earnings would not meet analysts'
expectations.
"We do not know who the poster is," says Daniel Bergeson,
who is representing Informix in the matter. "Nor do we know
if there has been a breach in the proprietary rights
agreement."
Privacy rights activists argue that many such lawsuits are
being abused by companies trying to squelch legal free
expression by intimidating those who make negative comments
about the companies online.
Many of the lawsuits are, in fact, dropped after the
identities of the posters are revealed, and the employees
are subsequently fired. Last year, for example, Raytheon
sued 21 John Does who posted on Yahoo but dropped the
lawsuit after they were identified. They included Raytheon
employees, four of whom were then let go.
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