Home > Legal Docket > In Re: Freehold HS Subpoena

Michael A. Norwick/ACLU-NJ

The ACLU-NJ represents an anonymous online poster whose identity was being sought (along with the identity of other posters) by the Freehold School District. The anonymous posters wrote on the nj.com website about the Freehold High School superintendent who received his doctorate from a "diploma mill" and received a raise for having the doctorate. (The State has now ruled that he cannot call himself doctor.) The school district subpoenaed nj.com to uncover the names of the posters, doing so pursuant to a statute that allows the school board president subpoena power when conducting disciplinary hearings. However, there is no current disciplinary hearing and this therefore appeared to be a fishing expedition to find out if any of the posters are school employees. Further, seeking the names of anonymous posters in this manner violates New Jersey court precedent and the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, both of which grant protections to anonymous online posters. In addition, it violates general free speech rights; indeed, even if the posters were employees, they could not be disciplined for the speech, since the issue was one of public concern.

Current Status: After the ACLU-NJ wrote a letter to nj.com and the school board seeking to prevent compliance with the subpoena, nj.com has agreed at this point to not disclose the names and email addresses of the anonymous posters.

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