Many areas of the law are ancient and slow to change (think Contracts). But defamation is not one of them and that is why I am so fascinated by it.
Case in point: a Virginia Appeals Court has ruled that Yelp, a popular online review site, must disclose the names of seven anonymous posters who allegedly defamed a carpet cleaning service. In fact, the posters were not customers and had posted malicious comments alleging they were overcharged for services not ordered and the like.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Defamatory language is not protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution or Florida's Declaration of Rights. If you post something "anonymously", that doesn't mean that your identity will be protected. Services like Yelp, in their Terms of Service, protect identities for "opinions" posted on their sites. If you are posting maliciously, the post is not your "opinion". Therefore, you are violating the Terms of Service for the site and sites can freely disclose your identity, even if there is no pending lawsuit.
If, as in this case, the online provider resists efforts to disclose identities, this court opinion suggests that, upon a showing that the post is from a non-customer, the court can compel the service to disclose the identity of the poster.
With the identity known, rest assured that the business will file a defamation suit against the poster. Be careful what you write on the Internet, even if you are posting anonymously.
Source: http://www.courthousenews.com/2014/01/09/64385.htm
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