Qualcomm sues to unmask Net scribes
From QRTS
Qualcomm sues to unmask Net scribes
By Bruce V. Bigelow
October 10, 2000
In a case that could pit civil liberties against securities law, San Diego-based Qualcomm has sued to
unmask 20 individuals who posted anonymous messages about the company on an Internet stock
message board. . . .
The company contends that many bullish messages posted on a Yahoo! message board called
"Qualcomm's Rocket to the Stars" include confidential information available only to Qualcomm
employees. In its lawsuit, Qualcomm contends that revealing confidential or proprietary information
to outsiders violates the nondisclosure agreement signed by all employees.
The company not only wants the names of the anonymous scribes who posted the messages -- it also
wants to identify their friends and associates at Qualcomm who might have talked.
"This is part of a process to ensure that this type of information is not disclosed," Qualcomm
spokeswoman Christine Trimble said yesterday. "With this filing, we can determine if there are
problems with confidential corporate information being shared by our employees."
. . . . David Banisar, a senior fellow at the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, D.C.
. . . who specializes in cyberspace civil liberties, contends that corporate lawyers have successfully
intimidated investors in dozens of cases from discussing the financial health of publicly traded
companies. "The deck is really stacked against the people who are in many cases posting legitimate
notices on the Net," Banisar said. "The purpose of these suits has been solely to determine the
identity of the posters, and then to punish them in some way." Aside from the challenge to freedom of
speech on the Internet, Banisar said the company's bid to identify the posters' friends and associates
at Qualcomm raises equally troubling issues.
He contends that judges should require a company to show exactly how it has been harmed by
messages posted on a Web site before allowing corporate lawyers to rummage for information about
those posting the messages.
In Qualcomm's lawsuit, for example, the company says Internet messages posted by
"buff_girl_92111" is a "current employee of Qualcomm who obtained the nonpublic confidential
information by virtue of his or her employment with Qualcomm." But the company does not state it its
suit what nonpublic confidential information was disclosed. . . .
The company also insists that five other posters are Qualcomm employees. It is seeking to reveal the
identities of "nemoman," "just_a_lurker_2000," "faahrley_h_qualcomm,"
"THEWEALTHYANALYST" and "chem_dr1."
Subpoenas seeking to unmask each alias have been served on Yahoo!, the Santa Clara Internet
media company that hosts stock chat forums and provides other Web-based services.
Yahoo! typically notifies the message-board posters named in the complaint, giving each 15 days to
file an opposing motion to quash disclosure of their identities.
That could be an expensive option, especially for the posters who live outside of San Diego, where
Qualcomm filed its suit. On the other hand, if they don't formally object, Yahoo! will release their
names to Qualcomm's lawyers.
One San Diego resident who received the Yahoo! notice and who asked for anonymity, called
Qualcomm's action unprecedented. This person, who says he is a former Qualcomm employee,
vowed to oppose the subpoena seeking to disclose his identity. |
