Anonymous blogging still safe.

In Monmouth County, New Jersey, at least.

Here we discussed the efforts of a New Jersey Township/civil litigant to out an anonymous Blogspot blogger critical of the litigation and Township governance generally, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s efforts to quash the Township’s subpoena. Yesterday the New Jersey state court judge presiding over the case granted EFF’s motion, which means that Google (Blogspot’s owner) need not comply with the Township’s demand for information on the blogger’s identity.

The judge’s order (pdf, 2 pages) is available here. The order doesn’t provide any detail, which is fairly typical of orders resolving discover-related motions, but EFF’s website says the judge found that “the subpoena amounted to ‘an unjust infringement on the blogger’s First Amendment rights’ and that the blogger ‘has a right not to be drawn into the litigation.'” (And EFF ought to know. Their lawyers drafted and argued the motion to quash.)