Time to run. There is now precedent against accessing an electonic bulletin/message board under an assumed name: Internet privacy is often seen as an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms, but now one U.S. federal appeals court has found an enforceable privacy interest in a private-access electronic bulletin board system. In a case of first impression, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that surreptitious access to a private-access electronic bulletin board can violate two federal statutes, the Wiretap Act, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2510-2520, and the Stored Communications Act, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2701-2710.
