Online Comments as Evidence

As readers increasingly turn to the Internet for their news, media companies have labored to adapt to the ever-changing digital landscape. But recent testimony appears to be the first time in Montana that anonymous comments made on a newspaper's website progressed to a real-world, courtroom interaction for the authors. In August, defense attorney Davis Stufft subpoenaed the Daily Inter Lake website for the registration information of the people who comment on its site. This is not the first time a newspaper in Montana has received such a subpoena; newspapers in Billings and Bozeman have faced similar requests in the past two years.