Court Rules That Yelp Must Unmask the Identities of Seven Anonymous Reviewers

Anonymous speech is a central component of America's First Amendment legacy.

The Supreme Court has repeatedly protected the right to speak anonymously, holding in 1960 that, "Anonymous pamphlets, leaflets, brochures and even books have played an important role in the progress of mankind." In 1995 they affirmed that earlier position: "Under our Constitution, anonymous pamphleteering is not a pernicious, fraudulent practice, but an honorable tradition of advocacy and of dissent. Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority." This right, the Virginia Court of Appeals noted, does not disappear at a website's log-in screen. "The right to free speech is assiduously guarded in all mediums of expression, from the analog to the digital," it held. That position notwithstanding, the High Court continued, the right to speak anonymously is not an absolute one: "Defamatory speech is not entitled to constitutional protection." The right to complain -- anonymously or not -- is a right that Americans enjoy (and they do seem to enjoy it). But such complaints, in order to receive legal protection, must be factually true. "There is no constitutional value in false statements of fact," the High Court has held.