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Dead Constitution See other Dead Constitution Articles Title: Illinois Newspaper Forced To Disclose Names Of Anonymous Commenters A newspaper in Ottawa, Ill., must disclose the names of two commenters on its Web site who allegedly made defamatory statements about a local couple, a panel of state appeals court justices ruled. In 2008, Donald and Janet Maxon filed a motion in court asking that Ottawa Publishing Company -- publisher of The Times newspaper and its Web site MyWebTimes.com -- reveal the commenters' names. The couple said the commenters suggested the Maxons bribed members of the Ottawa Plan Commission after they sought to add rooms to their house to establish a bed and breakfast, court records say. A La Salle County Circuit Court judge dismissed the couple's motion, saying the Maxons had failed to establish that the commenters' statements were defamatory, according to court records. Later that year, Ottawa Publishing filed a motion against the couple's request. The company argued that "as with a growing trend in other jurisdictions, trial courts in Illinois must take extra steps to protect the anonymity of internet posters," court records say. The Tribune and other news organizations filed a "friend of the court" brief on the case last year arguing that "if the court does not affirm the procedural safeguards necessary to protect the First Amendment rights of anonymous speakers online, the public's access to news and information will be irreparably harmed." But on Tuesday, the panel of justices in the Illinois Appellate Court's Third District reversed the decision to deny the Maxons' request. "The statements that the Maxons bribed certain officials in order to obtain approval for their zoning request are not mere statements of opinion," the court concluded. "We find that the statements purport to be factual allegations of bribery by the Maxons and must be answered."
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