Story posted Thursday, November 19, 2009
No Name Yet In HipCheck Case
By CRAIG ADAMS Journal & Topics Reporter
Buffalo Grove Trustee Lisa Stone did not expect to get the name of HipCheck16 on Wednesday, Nov. 18, despite a judge's ruling the previous week.
She was so sure it wouldn't happen she did not go to court that day. "My lawyer and my husband are there," she said Wednesday morning. "I'm pretty confident he's asking for an appeal," she explained. "He doesn't want his name exposed."
The lawyer for HipCheck16 did ask the judge for an appeal on Wednesday morning and the judge agreed to stay his ruling until Dec. 18.
Cook County Circuit Judge Jeffrey Lawrence on Monday, Nov. 9, ruled that Stone could have the name of the person who allegedly made comments to her son on an online message board. However, she learned the unknown poster's lawyer brought the appeal to the judge on Monday, Nov. 16.
Stone brought the case against the Daily Herald in April. According to her compliant, some negative comments about Stone were posted on the "reader comments" page to a story about the trustee campaign. Stone's son, a freshman in high school at the time, responded in the same section. During the exchange of comments, Stone said one poster made "defamatory and injurious statements" toward her son.
Stone demanded the person's identity from the newspaper, then filed suit when the paper refused to reveal it. The judge ordered the paper's release of HipCheck16's e-mail address, age, ZIP code, and Internet Protocol (IP) address. A subsequent ruling forced Comcast, the poster's service provider, to release the name to the judge on Oct. 5.
In earlier interviews, Stone indicated she was not sure if she would sue the poster after learning his name. She added that she would like to see Internet speech carry the same weight as talking with someone in person.
"If you would say the same thing to the person face to face, what would the repercussions be?" she asked. "If you won't say it to someone's face, it's kind of wimpy to be saying it behind a phony name."
She seemed unsure if children should be banned from discussion boards as a way to protect them from adults who could turn debates into personal attacks. "Most of our kids know so much about government that they're very very sophisticated," she said. "What shouldn't happen is someone like HipCheck should take something about government and turn it into a personal attack on a person," she continued. "When you stray from a debate and you just attack a person on the blogs, the whole thing is just ridiculous."
Stone is also still unclear about HipCheck's age, but suggested reading his posts gives an idea. "Clearly this is not a child," she said, estimating he is at least 40 years old. She based that assumption on HipCheck's "knowledge base" exhibited in his postings. "If you read him, you're going to say, 'He's an artist.' You're going to get the flair."
Stone's son, a freshman in high school at the time of the postings, was posting on the board using the screen name UncleW. In an earlier interview, Stone admitted he was posting without the knowledge or consent of her or her husband.
Speak Out!
Comments are edited first by Journal staff before running in print and appearing online.