Aaron Krowne, Founder of the Mortgage Lender Implode-o-Meter, posted the following article yesterday.
New Hampshire Judge Orders ML-Implode To Divulge Identities of Anonymous Posters
Questions:
1) Should blogs/consumer advocacy websites enjoy the same First Amendment protections as traditional press?
2) Does Justice McHugh’s decision disturb you as much as it disturbs me?
3) On the other hand, how is a company like The Mortgage Specialists (innocent until proven otherwise) protected against an insider leaking confidential documents, the validity of which is yet to be substantiated?
I am a proponent of the ML-Implode-O-Meter and a believer in Aaron Krowne. So I’m afraid I could be biased here. However, if you share my opinion regarding the sanctity of the First Amendment:
a) Aaron has created a few advocacy groups on Facebook so please look him up if interested.
b) Here’s a list of volunteers helping Aaron.
Perhaps Aaron himself puts it best:
“If the order stands, a flood of similar lawsuits filed by corporations against ‘whistleblower’ and consumer advocacy web sites could appear across the country”
More negative coverage of “The Mortgage Specialists” can be found here. I actually called them prior to publishing this article – fully expecting for the phones to be disconnected. Instead, my call was taken on the first ring. During our 2-minute conversation, the TMS employee told me that “all that had been taken care of”, it was a “compliance issue, not fraud”, and that the guilty parties were no longer with the company.