Washington State court rules that anonymous online reviewers are entitled to First Amendment protection

In a decision Monday, the Washington Court of Appeals ruled that anonymous reviewers on websites like lawyer review site Avvo.com are entitled to First Amendment protections. In the case, Florida-based divorce and family law attorney Deborah Thomson filed a defamation suit against a poster who published an anonymous negative review of her on the site. She asked the court to subpoena for information that could reveal the poster’s identity.