Last week Google was ordered by a court of law to reveal the identity of an anonymous blogger. The blogger was using Google’s Blogger Platform to post insulting and potentially libelous statements about Canadian born fashion model Liskula Cohen on her blog titled “Skanks In NYC“. Needless to say, the term “skank” was used more than in the title.

This week the blogger, a student at NYC’s Fashion Institute named Rosemary Port, publicly charged Google with failing to protect her First Amendment “right” of anonymous free speech. According to a Daily News article:

“When I was being defended by attorneys for Google, I thought my right to privacy was being protected,” Port said.

“But that right fell through the cracks. Without any warning, I was put on a silver platter for the press to attack me. I would think that a multi-billion dollar conglomerate would protect the rights of all its users.”

Herein lies the problem. The First Amendment provides for protection from Congress passing laws limiting Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, and Freedom of the Press… but it does not offer protection of your identity. The fact is that libelous and slanderous statements with the intent to cause malice are also not protected by The First Amendment.

Just as Facebook Can Cost You Your Job, blogging under an assumed name on a free account with a service does not give you free reign to put malicious words in large quantities on the internet. I tend to think that Ms. Port will end up without a penny from Google and just a legal bill to contend with that she’ll have to pay off by waiting tables. This is almost as frivolous a lawsuit as TechRadium suing Twitter.

Just because you have a right to Freedom of Speech does not mean using it unwisely is without consequences.

All services have users agree to a Terms Of Service (TOS) prior to the activation of your account. Profanity, obscene photos, libelous statements, and other notoriously bad content is traditionally forbidden in the TOS. Violating that will leave you with no legal grounds whatsoever

Mashable: Google Forced To Reveal Identity Of Offensive Blogger

Daily News: Outed blogger Rosemary Port blames model Liskula Cohen for ’skank’ stink