Well, allow us to narrow your question a bit and state the issue as whether you can sue our website and be successful. Frankly, it depends on what you sue us for. If you are suing us because of the content that is posted on our website by our users please consider this… In 1996, Congress passed 47 USC section 230, more commonly known as the “Communications Decency Act” (CDA). This significant piece of legislation created a federal immunity against lawsuits that would make interactive computer service providers (such as us) liable for information originating from third-party users of service (which are our users). In other words, the federal law protects us and we are not liable, especially for lawsuits in defamation or negligence, for comments that are posted on our website by our users. The CDA even protects websites, such as ours, so that we can perform traditional editorial functions, such as deciding whether to publish, withdraw, postpone or alter the content of your postings. This Act and its immunity as applied to websites such as ours was reaffirmed in the landmark case, Zeran v. AOL and set the current precedent, which all federal circuit courts have continued to follow. Zeran v. AOL Inc., 129 F.3d 327 (4th Cir. 1997). The reason for this immunity makes sense. The government wants to encourage free speech and commercial transactions over the internet. Imagine if people were able to sue websites simply because these websites had information that offended them, no one would host websites because of fear of liability and law suits. For example, websites such as Myspace and Craigslist would be subject to suit every time someone posted something negative about someone else (in fact, they have been sued for this exact reason and both Myspace and Craigslist were successful because of the CDA immunity). See Chicago Dentists Committee for Civil Rights Under Law v. Craigslist 519 F.3d 666 (2d Cir. 2008), Doe v. Myspace 96 Cal.Rptr.3d 148 (4th Cal. App. 2009). Furthermore, if you sue us and lose, which is likely because of the federal immunity as explained above, it is likely that you will not only incur the legal costs charged by your attorney, but also our attorney’s fees as well.
"Protections for anonymous speech are vital to democratic discourse. Allowing dissenters to shield their identities frees them to express critical, minority views . . . Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority. . . . It thus exemplifies the purpose behind the Bill of Rights, and of the First Amendment in particular: to protect unpopular individuals from retaliation . . . at the hand of an intolerant society."
- Supreme Court ruling in McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission, 1995
