Is there a constitutional right to communicate with others anonymously? Though the United States has a distinguished tradition of anonymous (and pseudonymous) publication -- the Federalist Papers, written by Alexander Hamilton and James Madison but published under the pseudonym Publius being . . .
Is there a constitutional right to communicate with others anonymously? Though the United States has a distinguished tradition of anonymous (and pseudonymous) publication -- the Federalist Papers, written by Alexander Hamilton and James Madison but published under the pseudonym Publius being only the most historically significant example -- the Supreme Court has never completely resolved the scope of protection under the First Amendment against compelled disclosure of one's identity. A few years ago, in the case of McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission, the court held that the Constitution wouldn't permit the author of political handbills to be punished for failing to include her name and contact information on those publications. That case, however, was decided on fairly narrow grounds, focusing on the specifically political nature of the communications and left open broader questions about more general protection for anonymity.

Those questions are going to loom large in the near future. The ease with which Internet users can communicate anonymously and avoid detection and expanding concerns, increasingly prevalent in the post-9/11 environment, about criminal activity over the Internet are likely to spark conflict. Courts will almost certainly have to jump into the fray.

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