Bankrupt 2TheMart.com Loses Internet Ruling

A federal judge denied a request by bankrupt Internet company 2TheMart.com Inc. to get the names of online chat room users who, the Irvine firm alleges, posted critical messages in an effort to drive its stock price down. 2TheMart said it needed 23 users’ names to defend itself against a shareholder lawsuit that alleges it misled investors. The lawsuit was filed after 2TheMart went bankrupt soon after its stock rose more than 2,000% to $50 per share in 1999. A federal judge in Seattle ruled, however, that evidence the company provided was not compelling enough to set aside the 1st Amendment rights of the chat room users, who used nicknames. “The First Amendment clearly applies to the Internet,” the judge said. “The law says that a person has a right to speak anonymously.”