One for Buffet: Ruling could let victim find, sue online heckler

Here's a cheering bit of news - Story Highlights:
- Judge orders Google to hand over blogger's identifying information
- Blogger had anonymously criticised individual
- Judge: Anonymous online taunters can be held accountable
- Victim's legal team intends to sue the blogger

A model who was slammed with derogatory terms by an anonymous blogger has the right to learn the identity of her online heckler, a judge ruled. In August 2008, a user of Blogger.com, Google's blogging service, created "Skanks in NYC," a site that assailed Liskula Cohen, 37, a Canadian-born onetime cover girl who has appeared in Vogue and other fashion magazines. The blog featured photos of Cohen captioned with terms including "psychotic," "ho," and "skank." On Monday, New York Supreme Court Judge Joan Madden ruled that Google must hand over to Cohen any identifying information it possesses about the blog's creator.
Steven Wagner, Cohen's attorney, said Google complied with the ruling Tuesday evening, submitting to his legal team the creator's IP address and e-mail address. Only a valid e-mail address is required to register for a blog on Blogger.com. Wagner said that once his legal team tracks the e-mail address to a name, the next step will be to sue Cohen's detractor for defamation. He said he suspected the creator of the blog is an acquaintance of Cohen. The blog has not been operational for months. The unidentified creator of the blog was represented in court by an attorney, Anne Salisbury, who said her client voluntarily took the blog down when Cohen initiated legal action against it [...].

But even so, if they have their way, he's going to jail. You will not be able to hide forever. Buffy take note. Now, Buffy claims to be in the "legal profession", so he'd put up a good fight if it came to that no doubt.

The whole story is here, in the CRIME section.