The suit was filed in Loudoun County state court in Virginia, where AOL is headquartered. Pursuant to its policy in these matters, AOL notified the author of the anonymous posts that a subpoena had been issued. The American Civil Liberties Union joined the suit to shield the anonymity of the writer. America Online Inc. was not a party to the suit, and although it was necessary to serve AOL to subpoena disclosure of the name of the Web site owner, there was no other contact with Virginia. The latter camp is facing more challenges as the wrinkles to Internet jurisdiction proliferate.
Anonymous postings are only the beginning.
In January, David J. Loundy, a cybersavvy lawyer in Chicago, ordered a compact disc from a Web site called Rock Relics, which is hosted on a server in Surrey, England. Mr. Loundy received an e-mail acknowledgement of his order. Mr. Loundy did, but he wanted it at the listed price. Under American law, he had accepted an offer and received confirmation of it, and thus a valid contract had been formed. Raising the price for the product at this stage might constitute false advertising and breach of contract.