Anonymous on the Net?

Does this headline catch your eye?

Hundreds who posted views on sex assault trial targeted in Tarrant suit

It definitely caught me eye and I wandered over to the Dallas Morning News to read the details.

Topix.com has been orderd to provide identifying information for 178 posters who posted approximately 1,700 graphic comments regarding a sexual assault trial. All three defendants were found not guilty and are now suing those who made the comments.

The suit is in Tarrant County (Fort Worth Texas) because "it appears one anonymous poster lives in Fort Worth."

Topix's reply is carefully crafted.

"We do not just give up people's privacy," said the Web site's CEO Chris Tolles. "We're very, very careful about that."

"But Tolles said the discussions are not necessarily a license to run people through the mud. "If there is a line that's been crossed from a libel standpoint — and it seems reasonable — we do, in fact, cooperate with the courts.""

Should be interesting to watch.