An ex-Vogue model has succeeded in a court case against Google, winning a ruling whereby the search giant will reveal an anonymous blogger who called her a ‘skank.’
In a move that will send shivers down the spine of internet posters who hide behind the sometimes anonymity of the internet, model Liskula Cohen (37) who was a cover girl for the iconic Vogue fashion magazine took a case to the Manhattan supreme court and won.
The decision by Judge Joan Madden paves the way for Cohen to now get the identity of the anonymous poster and sue for defamation.
A blog called Skanks in NYC featured photos of Cohen with unflattering descriptions such as “skankiest in NYC”, a “40-something who may have been hot 10 years ago.”
Judge Madden quoted a ruling in the State of Virginia that said anonymous online taunters should be held accountable if they defame people.
According to various media reports the blogger is understood to be a former acquaintance of Cohen’s in the modelling business.
Google said it sympathised with victims of cyberbullying but would only divulge user identifiers such as IP and email addresses if ordered by a court to do so.
By John Kennedy
