'Skank' Ruling Sends Message To Anonymous Haters

In 2008, former Vogue cover girl Liskula Cohen drew the wrath of an unnamed blogger on Google-owned Blogger.com and was uncharitably labeled a "skank" on five different blogs called "Skanks of NYC."

The sites also captioned photos of Cohen using the terms "ho" and "whoring," that were related to her appearance, hygiene and sexual conduct, which were "malicious and untrue," according to court documents filed in New York State Supreme Court.

Obviously, the vitriol did not sit well with Cohen, who sued Google after it refused to identify the anonymous poster. In the court document, Cohen's lawyer said he tried to "obtain identifying information" directly from Google, but Google was not willing to cooperate absent a court order.

The anonymous blogger, also named in Cohen's suit, argued that his verbiage was "comparable in meaning and usage to "jerk or any other loose and vague insult," and the court should find "as a matter of law that Internet blogs serve as a modern-day forum for conveying personal opinions, including invective and ranting."

New York State Supreme Justice Joan Madden did not agree and, citing previous similar cases, ruled that Google must disclose the identity of the anonymous blogger.