The first step in unveiling an anonymous poster is to file a civil subpoena with the entity sponsoring the message board. Someone who posts a message calling a CEO an idiot is just stating his or her opinion, Wellborn said, and it may be best not to respond. One tactic a company may use when dealing with damaging anonymous postings is to file its lawsuit anonymously as well. While this may sound funny, it protects a company trying to stem the flow when insider information has been exposed in an anonymous posting, Wellborn said. AOL and MSN give subscribers two weeks' notice.
Lawyers advise corporate clients to regularly monitor the Internet.
Things to look for are derogatory comments, unfair competition, trademark issues and disclosure of trade secrets. When problems like these come up, get legal advice before responding. If you do respond, put out the corrected facts. Another course of action when executives think their company has been wronged is to put the online service on notice of potential defamation. Levy has said that Public Citizen's position is that the courts should require the plaintiff to show that it has been wronged and that the court should treat the unmasking of a speaker as a substantive form of relief.