New Jersey rules on net anonymity

New Jersey ruled that the anonymity you create in creating web aliases/screennames/handles/usernames is protected by law.

Computer users in New Jersey can expect that personal information they give their Internet service providers will be treated as private, a state appellate court decided yesterday in the first such case considered in the state.

As a result, New Jersey and several other states will give greater privacy rights to computer users than do most federal courts, and law-enforcement officers in New Jersey will need to obtain valid subpoenas or search warrants to obtain the information.

The court ruled that a computer user whose screen name hid her identity had a "legitimate and substantial" interest in anonymity.

Of course, the Electronic Frontiers Foundation is deeply pleased. Defining these types of rights is important -- and to me seems at least somewhat intuitive, given the (relatively) protected nature of things like phone records.