N.B. newspaper ordered to name commenter

A New Brunswick judge has ordered a Moncton newspaper to reveal the identity of an anonymous commenter after the person’s online post was considered defamatory by its target.

The court order is a part of a growing trend of judges siding with complainants and forcing media companies to turn over the names of people commenting anonymously on its websites, according to a law professor.

The controversy started when Daryl Doucette, a Moncton firefighter, wrote a letter to the editor to the Moncton Times & Transcript in February criticizing a speed limit imposed on the province’s ambulances.

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Hat-tip, LawandLit