The Chronicle reports that the newspaper has been subpoenaed for registration information of a commenter who left comments allegedly recounting statements from a juror in an ongoing trial. Here is an excerpt from Peggy O’Hare’s reporting:
Attorneys for David Mark Temple issued a subpoena Friday to the Houston Chronicle, seeking information about a reader who suggested a juror inappropriately spoke with people outside the jury room about ongoing deliberations in the former high school football coach’s murder trial well before the guilty verdict was announced.
Temple’s attorneys are hoping to identify the reader, who claimed his or her boss was on the jury and predicted a verdict would come Thursday afternoon.
The reader, using the screen name “REFster,” posted the remark in the “reader comments” section on the Chronicle’s Web page about 9 a.m. Thursday — a full seven hours before the jury returned its verdict.
“Psst … My boss is on the jury. Thinks they’ll have a verdict this afternoon,” REFster wrote.
[snip]
REFster’s remark concerns Temple’s attorneys because jurors are forbidden from discussing the case with anyone outside the jury room while the trial is still in progress. Temple’s trial is set to resume Monday, when jurors will begin hearing testimony in the punishment phase of the case.
[snip]
The newspaper’s management called the situation highly unusual and could not recall any other subpoenas received previously for a reader’s Web page registration information. They have not yet decided how to respond to the subpoena.
“We’re studying the situation,” Chronicle editor Jeff Cohen said.
It will be interesting to see if the Chronicle defends the privacy of its user (and its data), or gives in on the matter.
Personally, I operate under the assumption that much personal information on the internet isn’t as “private” as most people think, and act accordingly.
What do you think? Do you expect Chron.com to resist legal efforts to obtain personal data (such as email addresses, age, address, etc.) of registrants? What about this website?
