Can You Really Remain Anonymous On The Internet?

In the early days of the Internet, an editorial cartoon from The New Yorker depicted a dog in front of a computer monitor and keyboard with a caption that read "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog." The point was that people could behave however they liked online without others knowing their true identity.

But is that really true? Au contraire my canine friends.

Revealing Anonymous Speech

While it is true that there is a First Amendment right to free and anonymous Internet speech, that only goes so far. For example, if someone using a pseudonym makes false statements on the Internet that cause harm to others, that can give rise to a potential defamation lawsuit.

Injured parties can then initiate legal action against "John Doe" defendants (porn companies are already adept at this) and subpoena the Internet service provider(s) to reveal the true identity of any person(s) who made the allegedly defamatory Internet statements.