Court Rules Against AOL on Net Privacy

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The Virginia Supreme Court ruled against America Online in its efforts to protect the identity of one of its 35 million subscribers by asking the court to quash a subpoena calling for the member's name in an issue that goes to the heart of the anonymity of the Internet.

The ruling against the world's largest Internet service provider, based in Dulles, Va., was the latest in the evolution of privacy laws as they pertain to the Internet and identities of Web surfers, privacy experts said.

"The law is very unsettled and still being written. Any decision by the highest court of any state--particularly the one where AOL resides--is significant,'' said David Sobel, general counsel at Electronic Privacy Information Center.

C|net