Compare & Share The Real Chilling Effect

This question and answer was recently sent to me from a site that answers legal questions pose by internet users.

Is it Illegal for a Site owner to share IP addresses?

Just recently I found out a site owner was sharing members IP addresses with some other member who was collecting info for another site. Would any of you consider this illegal ?? Sharing info without the members knowledge ??
Answer:
Definitely without prior permission and knowledge—it’s illegal. 

***********************

Towards the end of last year (2007) when the Bahamian Inquest into the death of Daniel Wayne Smith was ongoing threats against posters on Topix and TMZ escalated to the point where concerns about personal safety drove many off the boards. While it would be easy to simply explain the increasing savagery of the attacks as the work of one or two mentally unbalanced poster, nothing happens in a vacuum. As the ferocity of the attacks increased, advocates for Howard K. Stern were busy publically:

• Threatening exposure of bloggers IPs and personal information.

• Targeting specific bloggers whose opinions they did not like.

• Making inaccurate claims that they had “sources” that informed them that Mr. O’Quinn’s law firm employed paid bloggers.

• Demonizing those with dissenting viewpoints in order to make “targeting” them more palatable.

• Making ludicrous and unfounded claims that sites were being “hacked” into in order to justify the posting of personal information on public web sites.

• Telling American citizens that they would be arrested if they entered a public courtroom in the Bahamas.

These are just some examples of the tactics employed by those who knew better in order to “control and manipulate” others. As the wild and unfounded accusations of these site owners amplified, the threats from bloggers took an increasingly uglier tone. It’s called cause and effect. The following is an example of just how bad things deteriorated towards the end of November, 2007

NO I will not stop posting, you must be ANTINOID MUPPET.
If you do not feel guiltly of conspiring to hang HKS without
foundation and proof, you have no problem.

If you are a muppet, I will find you and hound you until
Lin Wood has all of the muppets rounded up and prosecuted,
no matter which site you post on.
UNDERESTIMATE ME at your peril.
Posted at 4:00AM on Nov 26th 2007 by the antinoid muppets

See the above threats. Although she would like to claim Mrs.
Marples framed her, the original posts–emails and ISP's can be
reviewed by TMZ. Despite the fact she changed her name to try to
confuse the issue, we have your original posts. We expect TMZ to
follow up with you, reviewing your ISP and contacting the provider.
An explanation is not only warranted but expected.
I would encourage others to copy these posts as well. This isn't the first time this person has done this–but this is the first time I've seen her say she has bullets with peoples names on them. I'm also curious if TMZ has breached confidentiality by supplying email addresses and ISP's to people who are making threats.
To the poster who is making threats–stop.
Posted at 7:37AM on Nov 26th 2007 by XXXXXXXX

YOU have been reprorted for your threats. Your IPS address will be sought and charges will follow.
Stop whoring on this site, BS is not and will not be tolerated VIRGIE.
Posted at 6:51AM on Nov 26th 2007 by Virgie's antinoid Muppet has a gun

NO! not on drugs. NO! not been drinking. NO! not stupid. If I was anything, your derogatary remarks make me feel superior to your defensive offensive defence.
Mrs Marples you are a renowned liar and a conspirator. You have been reported to you know who and are being watched. See you in court DUMBASS.
Posted at 6:32AM on Nov 26th 2007 by another antinoid MUPPET more to follow

Around this same time regular posters on this site (TMZ) and others expressed a growing concern that their personal information, obtained through the harvesting and sharing of IPs, was being given out to unauthorized persons. When this was first brought to our attention we did not understand either the technology or the law involved. Had we of “known then, what we know now” we would have taken the concerns of these posters much more seriously.

About a month ago multiple sources within the “Stern Camp” came forword with information that; IPs were indeed harvested at the request of Rose Turner and others; that specific posters had indeed been targeted for attacks and that information was indeed being shared and compared. They told us that this culled personal information had subsequently been turned over to unauthorized third parties. According to people with first-hand knowledge of what was taking place during that period of time, Bonnie Stern, Gary Stern, Kirsta Barth and Lin Woods office all expressed a desire “to shut these people up” and make them “stop talking about Howard” so that the story would die down. We have been told that all the information gathered was being relayed to Mr. Stern.

Of that, those on the inside have absolutely no doubt. The example that we were given concerned a specific, frequent blogger on TMZ that was there at the beginning. We’ll call this poster “Miss S”. “Miss S” was the focus of attention from within the “Stern Camp” because of her ardent defense of Ms. Arthur and others. “Miss S” was eventually driven off the boards because of the unrelenting and vicious personal attacks leveled against her. When they finished with “Miss S” they moved on to other susceptible bloggers.

We were also told that specific bloggers were assigned the job(s) of going, for example to TMZ in order to “even out the boards.” Just because we don’t have a “smoking gun” (although first hand accounts from people who where involved comes pretty damn close) doesn’t mean that any of us have to park our logic at the front door. We saw what happened to “Miss S” on TMZ and later on Topix. We’ve read the e-mail exchanges between Rose, Bonnie and Kirsta Barth. We’ve seen the threats of “we have your IPs” made public on both Art and Rose’s site. We know when we’ve personally been the target of “swarming” attacks by “Team Stern.” We are aware of how many computers mysteriously “crashed”. We’ve exchanged stories, and even when we’ve disagreed amongst ourselves (which lately has become increasingly obvious) we’ve all understood that there are times to put our differences aside because the issues are bigger than momentary slights and disagreements. (I’m not attempting to minimize the personal damage that anyone may have suffered).

This new information confirmed our worst suspicions and consequently we decided the take a closer look at these allegations and others. You want to talk about “a chilling effect”? While Kerry contacted law enforcement agencies questioning them as to the legality of harvesting personal information from IPs, I began researching the law in this area. The results of both our inquiries surprised, angered and alarmed us.

Kerry asked her local police department, the F.B.I. and the Secret Service if it was legal to harvest the IP address’ of posters, to display and share that information with unauthorized entities. The response was unequivocal, all three agencies informed her that it was not legal to do so. She was informed that this was an element of identity fraud and theft. They also expressed concern that IP address’ were being displayed on public internet sites, where anyone could obtain access to them. Their advice was to immediately notify her internet provider that this was happening, then to change her IP address, her e-mail account and all passwords.

Meanwhile I started researching the law in this area and was surprised to discover that the courts had examined this very issue and that a body of case law, though sparse, already existed pertaining to it.

The Federal Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984 at 47 U.S.C. §551 requires in situations where the issue in the disclosure of personally identifiable information.

(1) . . . a cable operator shall not disclose personally identifiable information concerning any subscriber without the prior written or electronic consent of the subscriber concerned and shall take such actions as are necessary to prevent unauthorized access to such information by a person other than the subscriber or cable operator.
(2) A cable operator may disclose such information if the disclosure is—
….(B)… made pursuant to a court order authorizing such disclosure, if the subscriber is notified of such order by the person to whom the order is directed

In simple terms Federal Statue prohibits the releasing of personal information tied to the IP address of an internet user unless the user himself authorizes the release or a court order is obtained by person(s) seeking the information.

In pervious articles here on QV’s site, I tried to lay out the current case law regarding the release of personal information tied to IP address’. This is only a brief summery of what I discovered. For more detailed information I would direct you to the previous articles and the specific case law cited. According to what I was able to ascertain a procedure has been codified by the courts when anyone seeks to obtain the personal identity of a poster through his/her IP address.

1. The person seeking the identity of the poster must go before the court and obtain a subpoena requesting the information.
2. The person seeking the information must satisfy a “summary judgment standard” in order to compel the identity of the anonymous speaker. This requires the person seeking the identity of a poster to show that there is a genuine issue of “material fact” involved and that there is enough evidence to justify why the case should proceed to a jury.
3. The court then makes a decision whether or not a subpoena is justified in this particular case.
4. If the court feels that there is sufficient cause, then a subpoena is granted.
5. The subpoena is served on the internet provider to release identifying information concerning a specific poster.
6. The provider then notifies their customer that a subpoena has been served asking for their personal information. The provider must do this before complying with the subpoena and supplying the requested information.
7. The customer is then afforded the opportunity to appear before the court and ask for a “motion to quash” the subpoena.
8. The court either grants or denies the request for a motion to quash.
9. Depending upon the court’s decision the information is or is not released to the requesting party.

Bear in mind that because this is all taking place within the framework of the judicial system the right to appeal is always present. That’s the information that we as laymen were able to obtain. That was the easy part. The difficult part was in trying to figure out exactly what happened. What could we prove took place vs what we believed took place? How does the law apply to the circumstances that we found ourselves in? What legal redress was available to those who believe that their right to “Free Speech” was violated?

I do know that despite the constant threats that have been relayed on almost a daily basis about impending lawsuits and the statements by site owners that IPs had been turned over to “relevant” agencies, nobody I know has ever been notified that anyone was seeking to obtain personal information. I am assuming that should that be the case, one would be notified of such a request and afforded the opportunity to appear before the court to defend their right to free speech and request a motion to quash.

The threats that IPs were being harvested and turned over began to appear almost immediately in posts on Internet sites covering this story.

Posted April 26, 2007 on TMZ
Hey guys, don't be crying for donations when there winds up being a class-action suit for defamation on all the blog IP numbers. They've already submitted what is being written here already to the court. If you think they can't find you, think again..
Posted at 10:17PM on Apr 26th 2007 by MYOB

 

From this point on we will have to make a number of inferences concerning what did and did not happen. “Inference is the act or process of deriving a conclusion based solely on what one already knows.” (WikiProject Logic)

As many of you have already discovered during this journey, getting at the truth has been a difficult, if not impossible task. At times it seems as if everyone lies even when the truth would benefit them the most. That being said just because we are inferring something doesn’t mean that it isn’t true. It simply means that we do not have a “smoking gun” YET.

Inferences are made when a person (or machine) goes beyond available evidence to form a conclusion. An inductive inference is one which is likely to be true because of the state of the world. Unlike deductive inferences, inductive inferences do yield conclusions that increase the semantic information over and above that found in the initial premises. However, in the case of inductive inferences, we cannot be sure that our conclusion is a logical result of the premises, but we may be able to assign a likelihood to each conclusion. (Blackwell's Dictionary of Cognitive Science; Johnson-Laird, Philip N., Human and Machine Thinking, 1993.)

 

In preparation for this article, I asked a regular poster whom I have always admired for her honesty and integrity to just write down what happened to her. The following was her response to that request, reprinted with her permission.

I have posted as Windi on TMZ since the day they put Anna in the ground in the Bahamas. In July there was a personal reason that I posted a few times as "Redbud" and only a few very close friends knew that was me, then I went back to posting with the name Windi.

About the 25th or so of October I was on Timesquaregossip.com and I just happen to stumble into the "Celebrity Chat" using the name "Redbud". I was met at the door with a private message from someone asking me who I was. I told her that I am Windi from TMZ, she told me ok she liked my posts and I was allowed to stay. Well on October 31, about 9 p.m. I was told by two friends that people had been in the Chat earlier threatening others. 

At the same time Rosespeaks regulars kept posting on TMZ that there was going to be a bombshell. We waited and waited for something to be said but the link to her site just kept being posted on TMZ. Well one day I put on the muck boots and decided to see what Rosepeaks bombshell was all about, so I entered that site. Was there maybe a total of 3 minutes and left. Never even tried to navigate to anywhere or do any posting whatsoever. But a short time after this I was put on Rosepeaks "Wall of Shame" for being a hacker or something.

They used the names of Windi and Redbud. The only way that someone could of put those two names together was to confer over ip numbers and names. I also believe that the bombshell was a way to conspire to get people on a site so that they could match numbers and names. This was an invasion of my privacy. They stated what State I reside in also. I have never been back nor do I ever plan on trying to access that site again.

In early November Rose was still welcoming visitors to her site and encouraging them to enjoy and make use of the legal documents contained therein.

Lynderella says:
November 7th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
We have so many REGULAR VISTORS AND GUEST here today … 11 AS I’M WRITING THIS!
THIS IS A BIG “HELLO” TO THOSE WHO JUST COME BY TO CHECK OUT THE BLOG, READ ARTICLES OR UPLOAD COURT DOCUMENTS AND/OR ROSE’S DEBUNKING OF THE BOOK.
GO AHEAD AND JOIN AND TAKE FULL ADVANTAGE OF ROSE SPEAKS SITE!!!!
HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!!!!

 By the end of November the by now “famous bullit threats” were issued against Mrs. Marple on TMZ.

Wow. I’m up to three bullits in the chamber. I might have it fully
loaded before the sun comes up.
Got your ISP too Hmmmm. Good f*cking luck seeing Chrstmas!
Posted at 5:24AM on Nov 26th 2007 by Another meatmuppet blogger whore speaks

On December 19, 2007 Art Harris and Rose Turner both posted articles on their respective web sites that specifically mentioned that the IPs of bloggers had been obtained and “turned over”.

From Art Harris: Don Clark, former Head of FBI, Houston, now private investigator Art Harris
“We have also obtained IP addresses and various names bloggers used to attack Stern,”

From Rose Turner:
Let’s Play Where’s Don Clark and Wilma Vice Today!
“Another deeply disturbing bit of Mr. Harris‘ article is about the paid bloggers, and the numeric IP addresses. Didn’t TMZ change their policies saying that no matter what name you used for a post they did track your numeric IP? I thought I had read somewhere that TMZ had said they would release that information if requested by lawyers.
I am glad as per Art Harris’ new article that someone was brave enough to keep that information and then turn it into the right people

Art’s fans were enthusiastic in their support of this “adventure” and some posts led many to believe that site owners were cooperating with Mr. Lin Wood and/or other legal representatives of Howard K. Stern.

Joni Says:
December 19th, 2007 at 11:52 am
I’m glad the IP’s of the bloggers were obtained and hope that Howard gets every last one of them.

This enthusiasm for outing the personal information of bloggers spilled over onto TMZ that same day.

TMZ:
… HER PAID BLOGGERS and the now known and evidentiary ISP's of Heinie Einy Hitler, Craze Faye, Miss Marbles et al.
Posted at 10:33PM on Jan 19th 2008 by OMG

At the same time Rose Turner was posting that she knew visitors were coming on her site and copying information and that as far as she was concerned “it was no big deal”.

Comment by Rose — December 19, 2007 @ 10:38 pm
Thanks Lauren for cluing me in here, I feel kind of out in left field when it comes to
TMZ posters, know we have some here to read and copy but no big deal.

That day and the next Rose Turner tried to explain why IPs were harvested and saved.

Rose says:December 19, 2007 at 10:38
… those ISP’s were being collected not to sue anyone but to turn it over to the right enforcement dept.

Rose Says: December 20th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
I don’t read that ANYONE intends to sue bloggers, just the ones that have advocated violence or harassment will have the numeric IP’s turned over for that to the right “officials”.

In the beginning of January Rose Turner first published the threat to put a “wall of shame” up on her site with the locations and IP’s of visitors.

Rose says: January 1st, 2008 at 5:33 pm
It means someone tried to hack in to our new site, and the security caught and kept the numeric IP addy of the attempted hacker… We can put a “hall of shame” up with the IP’s of the hackers like some ppl do.

Mrs. Marples, fed up with the threats posted on “The Bald Truth”. Mr. Harris responded and instead of alleviating her shared fear that IP were being harvested he reinforced it and again insinuated that somehow TMZ was involved

Art Harris Says: January 3rd, 2008 at 3:35 am
Mrs. Marple:With all due respect, your note is perhaps the whackiest, most paranoid epistle I’ve yet to read on the internet.

I’m not surprised, though, since you sound truly disturbed — brainwashed by the company you keep? Suggest you ask Wilma about the IP addresses attached to the so called threats you say you’ve reported to the FBI. Doesn’t matter how many bizarre and anonymous names they use to create the laughable impression you allege, it doesn’t erase the fact several came from the same computer, sources tell me.

Doesn’t Wilma realize the FBI is smart enough to quickly learn the same people you claim were threatened just may turn out to be the very folks who are making the threats? Shame. At least that’s what some people say who have tracked the messages you mention to identical IPs.

Even your favorite website has grown suspicious, as you will soon find out, and are well aware that you are using their web space to play ridiculous games, causing true harm to innocent people, often lapsing into anti-semitism and hate, and they are tired of it and don’t want to be held liable for shenanigans or bigotry. My, oh, my, what will the judge say when he hears about this one

All this was taking place at the exact time that Rose Turner kept posting and reposting that she had a number of “bombshells” concerning the Anna Nicole Smith case. “Bombshells” that were exclusive to RoseSpeaks and would “change everyone’s opinion” about the case".

This promise of surprising revelations was posted on other sites where bloggers interested in the events had been posting their opinions and direct links to RoseSpeaks were put up. This went on for a long period of time. Curious members of the public with a known interest in the story where being invited and enticed to visit RoseSpeaks in order to obtain this startling information. .

Rose says:
January 4th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
In answer to the question about the deposition is of Howard about jurisdictional issues ONLY… however, McCabe will there, Lin Wood, and the lawyers for CBS and KPRC….
In addition, there is a bombshell or 2 to hit this week! One is the infamous Clown Video and what they DON’T want you to know (team VA that is). Then another bombshell that will rock the very foundation of what ANYONE that can use that gift they each have called a brain, will leave ppl reeling and reassessing a LOT of things about some of the ppl in this mess.

Rose says:
January 4th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
I am waiting on two news sites since this is a discussion blog to break at least one of the bombshells today… If they don’t then this tiny blog of just all of us will break it. I have known about it for a few days and it makes me sick, angry but explains SO much about who is who, what is what, and a why, with even a question did this add to Anna’s death…
I promise it is WORTH the wait, but if not today, then here tonight.

RoseSpeaks
January 5, 2008
Memorial Stone Announced on Jan. 3, 2008
We had also announced yesterday that there would be two bombshells reported, one that would rock the very foundation of what you thought about several people and groups involved in this Greek Tragedy. I have been asked where to look for these reports and would tell you to stay tune to the larger media print news on the east coast. One is hopefully out today, and I expect the other to be out soon after that.

MARCH 10, 2008
Rose says:
March 10th, 2008 at 9:09 pm
#65 Yes and once again I have been asked and have agreed to respect that request… will it be the New York Post page 6 this time like the last bombshell on Virgie had an agent 6 days after Daniel died… I can hope but not sure if it will be them or not… I just know it will be this week before the Inquest begins next week.

March 19, 2008
RoseSpeaks (the bombshell)
The Mystery of the Clown Video Revealed as Shown on Geraldo by Ford Shelley!
We were glad to sit on the story although it was very hard to do here at Rose Speaks. Several months ago, we here at Rose Speaks were asked to help with the Clown Video after seeing it air on Geraldo’s At Large Show on Fox News. The only thing an investigative reporter had at that time…
Who wants to bet me that the “investigative reporter” asking for help was Mr. Art Harris himself?

At the end of January, 2008 the promise of future bombshell revelations was followed by the actual posting on RoseSpeaks of Rose’s wall of shame in which she mentions obtaining and comparing IP from other sites such as TMZ:

Rose says: January 20th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
OK BLOGGERS THE LIFE THREATS STOP NOW AND WE DO HAVE YOUR ISP’S
RIGHT NOW WILMA VICEDOMINE FROM COMCAST HOUSTON IS ON THE SITE
RIGHT NOW WHACK A MOLE FROM COMCAST EUGENE OREGON IS ON THE SITE NOW
RIGHT NOW KERRY FROM RCN IN JAMAICA PLACE MA.
RIGHT NOW FAYE FROM Embargo ISP WHEN ROUTING THROUGH NORTH CAROLINA, AND TYLER TEXAS MOST OF THE TIME
RIGHT NOW WENDY/RED BUD FROM ARKANSAS
We have also had lawyers from multiple states we do have the ISP’s the correct authorities are being contacted and the threats on lives stop NOW!
If we have to, we will close the blog down and move it to a more secure area of the site.

Rose says: January 20th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
ADD EEINSTEIN FROM FLORIDA ALSO, ALL SOFTWARE INCLUDING TMZ LOGS AND KEEPS ISP NUMBERS NOW GO AWAY CHILDREN AND PLAY IN ANOTHER SAND BOX

At this point I would like to state categorically that up until that date (January 20, 2008) I had never visited Rose’s site (not one single time). I have never used a proxy and I have only one e-mail account on AOL that has remained the same for years. What Rose Turner posted at 6:02 pm on January 20, 2008 is an out right lie. The only way that she would have known that I lived in Florida is because I had naively posted that information on TMZ at the beginning of this saga. Ask yourself, if I know for a fact that she lied about me and put out my personal information under a false pretext then who else was she lying about and why was she lying? Later that same day Rose put up the “wall of shame” again and it was left in place for quite some time, reinforcing and repeating the original lie by stating that “Einstein from Florida is on the site”. That is a complete and utter fabrication on Rose Turner’s behalf. Rose Turner is a liar, period. I am more than prepared to substantiate THAT FACT in any court, anytime, anywhere under whatever circumstances that would necessitate it.

Rose:

OK BLOGGERS THE THREATS ON OUR VIA OTHER NOW AND WE DO HAVE YOUR IP’S AND LIKE THE SAYS WE HAVE NO THEM OVER TO THE RIGHT AUTHORITIES.

Edited by Rose on April 23, 2008.
WHACK A MOLE FROM EUGENEOREGON IS ON THE SITE
KERRY FROM JAMAICA PLACE MA AND WHEN SHE ROUTES THROUGH OTHER AREAS WE HAVE THOSE TOO
EINSTEIN FROM FLORIDA IS ON THE SITE
FAYE FROM ROUTING THROUGH NORTH CAROLINA, AND TYLERTEXAS MOST OF THE TIME IS ON THE SITE
WINDY/RED BUD FROM ARKANSAS IS ON THE SITE
MS MARPLES FROM SALT LAKE CITYUTAH IS ON THE SITE
QV FROM OHIO ALTHOUGH SHE THINKS SHE IS CUTE AND CAN REROUTE.
WE HAVE REMOVED THE WALL OF SHAME SINCE AFTER BEING HACKED INTO 4 TIMES WE NOW RUN NUKE SENITINEL WITH A SCROLLING IP ADDRESS OF HACKERS AND THOSE HARRASSING OR THREATENING OUR MEMBERS!
IN FACT FOR ALL OF THESE WILMA BLOGGERS WHO HATE ROSE SPEAKS YOU SURE LIKE TO SIGN UP UNDER FALSE NAMES AND POST NICE HERE, MIGHT BE AN ARTICLE THERE WHEN THE TIME IS RIGHT!
We have also had lawyers from multiple states who are looking at the stalking and advising us what to do, we do have the IP’s and the correct authorities are being contacted and the threats on lives stop NOW!
ALL SOFTWARE INCLUDING TMZ LOGS KEEPS IP NUMBERS
I am sure matching IP’s from here via authorities with TMZ and other sites will track the right people down.
The “Wall of Shame” was eventually replaced by a scrolling list of IP address’
[Blockd hackers
This is the list of NukeSentinel™ banned IP addresses]

After that Rose and her moderators continued to post the threats about obtaining and sharing IPs with no regard to the legal ramifications of engaging in that behavior. She stated that if you didn’t want someone to have your IP then you shouldn’t step on their site. First of all I never did “step on her site”, yet she LIED and said I did and then posted my information. Second the laws protecting the identity of posters are very clear in this area. This is not like a telephone call, a comparison that Rose Turner makes. RoseSpeaks was a Public Site. Rose and her members encouraged and invited the public to visit her site. 

When an internet user clicked on links provided by her members on other sites, they did so with an expectation of privacy. Rose had no legal right to harvest their IPs and certainly had no legal right to compare information with other site owners. She most assuredly had no legal right to turn any of that information over to any third party circumventing established case law that had been put in place to specifically protect the Free Speech of anonymous bloggers on the Internet. Rose’s justification that somehow she determined that these people were “hackers” and that that gave her the right to do what she did is specious.

As already stated, I know Rose lied, I know Rose is a liar, therefore why would I or anyone else be expected to take anything Rose alleges on face value? Why should I be forced to trust the word of a known liar, when it comes to circumventing such important constitutional issues like Free Speech? I’m sorry but as they like to say in Rose’s neck of the woods, “that dog won’t hunt!”

Rose says: January 20th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
I will have a new article up tomorrow; we are sadly installing 3 more tracking programs… What is so stupid here is an ISP is your internet server provider like AOL, Comcast, Road Runner, Verizon, Wild Blue, etc. your IP is the internet protocol and is per dial up, proxy and computer and they think that is “private and protected”? Gggggeeeeeessssss it is like caller ID if you don’t want someone to have your telephone number then don’t call them and if you don’t want someone to have your IP then don’t step on their site… don’t these idiots know that when they post on TMZ they have all of that info. on them just like Topix, Crime Library, Free Republic, Web Sleuth, etc. they all have built in software that tracks.

Lynderella says: January 20th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
WILMA AT WORK!!! Yes 216.XX.XXX.XX
mail.XXXXyint.com 2007-12-21 15:16:37 1 That was Wilma when she came on the site on Dec. 21, 2007.

Lynderella says: January 21st, 2008 at 10:02 am
YES… THEY SEE YOUR IP ADDY WHEN YOU VISIT A SITE!!! EVEN IF YOU JUST GO TO VIEW!
EXAMPLE….. HERE’S MS. MARPLE VIEWING THE MAIN SITE….
I WAS PLANNING ON USING MY OWN, BUT THAT WAS JUST TOO SWEET THAT SHE JUST CAME ON!!! lol
Domain Name wirelessbeehive.com ? (Commercial)
IP Address 204.13.129.# (Beehive Telephone Company)
ISP Beehive Telephone Company
Location Continent : North America
Country : United States (Facts)
State : Utah
City : Tooele
Lat/Long : 40.5757, -112.3346 (Map)
Time of Visit Jan 21 2008 9:58:14 am
Last Page View Jan 21 2008 9:58:14 am
***** I SHOULD SAY “THIS COULD BE MS. MARPLE, BUT SINCE SHE LIVES IN UTAH AND WE ONLY HAVE ONE VISITOR FROM THERE OFF AND ON…. I “THINK” I’M SAFE TO SAY IT IS HER….IF NOT … WELL ..HERE’S A VISITOR….************

Lynderella says: January 24th, 2008 at 9:03 am
Domain Name (Unknown)
IP Address 74.196.49.# (Suddenlink Communications)
ISP Suddenlink Communications
Location Continent : North America
Country : United States (Facts)
State : Texas
City : Tyler
Lat/Long : 32.318, -95.2921 (Map)
BEACHLADY/FAYE? PLEASE PLAY NICE HERE!

After Rose and Art continued to insinuate that “we have your IP” and intimated that TMZ was somehow sharing information with them, a number of us were so concerned that we called and e-mailed management at TMZ. Here is Kerry’s e-mail and the response she received. Others also contacted TMZ’s legal department and a few responses to their inquires are also included.

To TMZ: I would like to know if our Ip's were given to Mr. Art Harris and if it was I want see a court order. If not I want to you do something about how he keeps threatening us about writing on TMZ. Please write me back, so that I know if I need a lawyer to sue anyone that gives my personal information without my knowledge!
Dear Ms. XXXXX: We have not given your IP address (or the IP address of anyone else) to Mr. Harris or to anyone else. Regards, Don Zachary, Production Attorney

From: Legal <Legal@tmz.com>
Date: Jan 24, 2008 7:32 AM

I can assure you, Ms. XXXX, that TMZ never knowingly displays any
personal information about any person who post to our message boards,
nor do we disclose ISP information to anyone at anytime. If you have
any specific complaints about specific comments, feel free to contact me
again. Best of luck, Don Zachary, Production Attorney

… As you can see, the reference to "IP addresses and various names
bloggers used to attack Stern" makes no reference to TMZ, and we can
assure you that TMZ has not provided Mr. Harris or anyone else with the
IP addresses of any of the people who comment on our stories or who
contact us. (The "names" used by those who make comments are available
to be seen by anyone who reads the comments.)

I trust I have answered your question. Regards, Don Zachary, Production
Attorney

We know from numerous sources that Rose specifically identified people whose IPs she wanted and gave instruction to moderators to watch the sites and capture this information. Rose in a post on May 10th 2008 1:22 am admits to receiving a HUGE list of IP numbers from emails obtained from a moderator on another site.

One might ask why Rose Turner and her gang would engage in such behavior? What did they hope to gain? I think Rose herself answered this question for all of us when she wrote in March at the beginning of this whole story, “THIS IS WAR BABY”! I guess during war it is easy to suspend civil liberties and to forget such trivialities like the constitution after all “War is Hell”. So welcome to hell ala Rose Turner.

Candis Says:
March 27th, 2007 at 2:44 pm
who is paying for the Limo that Vergie rides in? Where is she staying? A hotel or house?
rose says:
… In addition, if this is true, THIS is the kind of information that PR people for the Stern camp should be getting onto PEOPLE magazine and on Court TV.
They made not think they should stoop to such tactics themselves, but this is war baby – and you if you let this stuff slide, it will only be the beginning of what people like Vergie and Quinn are capable of…PLEASE believe this.

Kerry and Einy