Anonymous Newspaper Commenters Subpoenaed In Tax Case 394
skuzzlebutt writes "In a federal tax case reported in the Las Vegas Review Journal last week, a local businessman has been paying his employees in gold coins instead of cash or ACH, and has reportedly told them that they can only be taxed on the face value of the coinage — not the much higher market value of the metal. The United States disagreed, and brought him up on 57 counts of income tax evasion, tax fraud and criminal conspiracy. The non-authenticated comments section of the original article brought a lot of supporters out of the woodwork, including a few who thought the jury should be hung (literally, procedurally, or figuratively ... pick one). In response, the prosecution has subpoenaed the names of the anonymous commenters, citing fears of jury safety. Or something. The obvious questions of privacy and protected speech aside, for the folks that support the defendant (the newspaper is fighting the subpoena), this also brings back into the spotlight the troll-empowering nature of pseudo-anonymous, non-authenticated boards. If they want to find you, they will; is anonymous commenting still worth it, or is it just too risky for the board owners?"
i'll be the first to say.. (Score:5, Funny)
..what a terrible summary
Yes. (Score:5, Funny)
AC OUT!
YES! (Score:3, Funny)
Absolutely!
Posting AC so they don't find out who I am.
Re:i'll be the first to say.. (Score:4, Funny)
Re:i'll be the first to say.. (Score:2, Funny)
"Automated Clearing House".... Everytime I see that, I hear 'You May Already Have Won'...
Did the person who came up with that name think banking was like sweepstakes???
Re:i'll be the first to say.. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:You forgot a few things to be anonymous (Score:5, Funny)
* Don't touch the envelope or paper without wearing several layers of surgical gloves.
* Don't use a printer that leaves any identifying marks. Most modern color printers are traceable and most older typewriters are as well.
* Don't lick the stamp or envelope!
* Don't drop it in any drop-box that has a security camera anywhere nearby
They'll still find you from the return address...
Re:i'll be the first to say.. (Score:1, Funny)
I'm going to fucking summon a pink colored meteor from the universe and cause it to crash into the jury deliberations!
Sephiroth? Is that you?
Re:i'll be the first to say.. (Score:3, Funny)
As a beer wrangler.. oops. you said bear wrangler
For a minute there, I was about to be offended.