If You Snooze...2/23

The Snooze came through--in their typical fashion. Hard-hitting journalism? Ah, well.... At least the site got a mention.

The Essent-PRMC lawsuit against the operator of the-paris-site.blogspot.com began in June 2007 when the hospital accused the anonymous blogger of wrongful conduct in publishing information detrimental to the hospital and violating patient confidentiality, and obtained a court order to force the blogger’s Internet service provider, Suddenlink, to reveal the name of its client.

Days before the end of 2007, the blogger’s attorney sought and was granted a writ from the Court of Appeals negating the previous court order. The Court of Appeals held there is no precedent in Texas to give the trial court the authority to issue such an order, and that several courts have noted that Internet anonymity serves a particularly vital role in the exchange of ideas and robust debate on matters of public concern. The Court also ruled that the hospital must first prove the statements are not true and then prove they are harmful to the hospital.

In March 2008, the two sides were back in court, and were given 14 days to present written arguments to the court.

Since that time there has been little movement in the case. In September of this year, Essent’s lawyers filed an affidavit stating a team of computer analysts hired by the hospital were unsuccessful in a forensic search for the blogger’s identity.

Could it be that the hospital is intent on stating to the court that they (the court) are its only resource in finding me?

It would seem that they ought to concentrate on the two stipulations of the appellate court: Truth of statements, and financial impact. But, then again, maybe they have...and come up short.

They know that I have some interesting sources--local and elsewhere. What's problematic is the anonimity of the comments. One of the things that was probably verified with the forensic group was that there is no track-back on the anonymous commenting. Speaking of 'in the dark,' the Snooze (with some prodding) even climbed on their case for keeping the community in the dark (Andy and Hud dismissals, holiday layoffs, and more....) And most (if not all) of the calls have been dead-on.

As to financials, with the recession 'officially' starting in 2007, what is their baseline? Sounds like global warming to me. (Something you really can't prove, but you know it exists!)

The biggest factor in fostering a poor image was the publicity created by the lawsuit itself. The number of hits jumped a hundred-fold.

Sooooo...stay tuned in the New Year.