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Allegheny Court of Common Pleas
Sara Rose (ACLU-PA)
The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania is representing Richard Rattanni, who has operated the elizabethboro.com discussion board for more than 10 years to provide a forum for members of the local community to discuss politics and disseminate information. The discussion board is a free service that allows users to post comments and read comments posted by others.
Thomas DeRosa, the elected chairman of the Forward Township Board of Supervisors, filed a lawsuit in November 2009 claiming that two anonymous defendants - referred to as Howard Doe and Robin Doe in the complaint - posted defamatory statements about him on the discussion board. DeRosa issued a subpoena to Rattanni compelling him to divulge the identities of people who posted ten different comments about DeRosa on the discussion board under the thread "Fwd. Twp. DeRosa = Corruption."
On January 8, 2010, the ACLU will file a motion asking a judge to enter a protective order barring DeRosa from obtaining any information from Rattanni relating to the identities of the anonymous speakers who posted statements on the discussion board. The motion will be presented at 2 p.m. on Friday, January 8, 2010, in courtroom 815 of the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas.
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