this is pretty scary

i like being (fairly) anonymous on my blog. sure, some peeps know who i am. some don't. some i don't care if they know, some i DO care.

i'll use an example - pertinent to this story. i mostly support my town (except for black and blue square, the taxes, the town council) and my police department. the other day i DID complain about the police because i read a story about 34 or 35 burglaries in one apartment complex (rather close to my house). NOT that there were so many robberies, i was pissed the story wasn't released after a COUPLE of burglaries. the story wasn't released (as far as i can determine) for quite a while AFTER. that's NOT a good thing.

no, i didn't write anything horrid, but i could have. i suppose it would be safer for me to remain anonymous if i had done so.

i don't like the idea that my town or my police chief can ask my isp who i am. it's none of their beeswax!

(on the other hand, if i had private, inside information that was adversely effecting an investigation or something like that AND ILLEGAL FOR ME TO DISPERSE, well that's a horse of a different color)

Police director sues for critical bloggers' names

Site popular with citizens, officers

By Amos Maki (Contact), Memphis Commercial Appeal

Memphis Police Director Larry Godwin and the city of Memphis have filed a lawsuit to learn who operates a blog harshly critical of Godwin and his department.

The lawsuit asks AOL to produce all information related to the identity of an e-mail address linked to MPD Enforcer 2.0, a blog popular with police officers that has been extremely critical of police leadership at 201 Poplar.

"In what could be a landmark case of privacy and the 1st Amendment," the anonymous bloggers write on the site, "Godwin has illegally used his position and the City of Memphis as a ram to ruin the Constitution of the United States........