| Judge denies Beachwood police chief's attempt to identify anonymous commenter Cleveland Scene: Andrew Geronimo, director of the First Amendment Clinic at the School of Law, discussed a recent ruling that found comments made by two fictitious Facebook accounts and anonymous emails sent to Beachwood officials are protected speech and the city and its police chief Katherine McLaughlin cannot use subpoenas to try and identify the person behind the messages. "Dangers to free speech are often filled with the hope that whomever the anonymous commenter is, will be too scared," he said. But "that anonymous right to speech, as the court said, is at the bedrock of our constitutional rights." |
