The coalition, which includes the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties union, claims that ISPs should notify customers when they are targets of the so-called “cyberSLAPP” lawsuits.
In these lawsuits the target of an anonymous criticism usually files a suit against an anonymous individual and then issues an identity-seeking court order to an ISP. There is currently no legal requirement that ISPs notify their customers before complying with such orders.
According to the group, companies such as Microsoft, EarthLink, Yahoo! and America Online already notify their customers, allowing them to prepare a response. The group also claims that, usually, companies that issue legal threats do not follow up with further action, they merely try to discover the identities of their critics.
A spokeswoman for the coalition said:
“Anonymous speech on the internet lets people make criticisms that are difficult to state openly, and share information and support about topics that might be stigmatising, such as addiction or sexual abuse… CyberSLAPP cases are unfair because the ‘punishment’ that often matters most to average citizens (the loss of anonymity) comes not after consideration and judgment by a court or jury, but as a result of the mere filing of a lawsuit.”