Appellate Court Clarifies Limits Of Internet Anonymity

Originally published in Internet and E-Commerce Law in Canada, vol. 11, no. 3, July 2010

The recent Ontario Divisional Court decision in Warman v. Fournier,¹ set a significant Internet law precedent by ruling that the identity of an anonymous Internet user will not be automatically disclosed to a plaintiff in civil litigation, even though the information is in the possession of a named defendant. The decision confirmed that identity information should only be disclosed when the plaintiff's claim is legitimate and after a consideration of the public interests at stake.

The Warman case is now the leading authority in Ontario for the proposition that although an Internet user's anonymity should not be protected absolutely, the mere commencement of a lawsuit will not give rise to an automatic entitlement to identity information. Instead, the courts must balance the right of a plaintiff to seek redress against the public interests served by anonymous Internet activity.