Chilled

Blogs are free-wheeling and entertaining, and a large part of this is their anonynimity, allowing people to say what they want without fear of social constraints or reprisals.

Yes, at times, this is a bad thing.

A recent court ruling that a blogger's identity can be revealed in the local newspaper will certainly give some pause. A separate case has requested a newspaper to turn over the names, ip addresses, etc., of everyone who commented on a specific story. The newspaper is fighting it.

Newspapers, being hard-hit lately, surely should not have to defend lawsuits such as this. Bloggers operating under the knowledge that they can be exposed to the world, will probably just tone down everything they say. Boring. And lacking diversity. Too bad.

Links courtesy of The Drudge Report.