Here's a switch: A company is claiming that the Internet gives users too much privacy.
Wade Cook Financial has filed a slander suit against 10 anonymous users of a Yahoo bulletin board, hoping, it says, to strike a blow against rumermongering on the Internet.
The federal court suit names 10 "John Does" as defendants, and a lawyer for the investment-advice company said Monday it may subpoena Yahoo to hand over the real names of the users.
Yahoo is not a target of the lawsuit; at least, not yet.
The lawsuit comes as debate grows over Internet privacy, with users fretting about how to protect their identities from prying eyes. But at the same time, companies are complaining about the ease with which rumors spread over the global computer network.
"These John Does are using the anonymity afforded by the Internet to damage the reputation and undermine the business of a legitimate company," said Wade Cook attorney Paul Anderson.
Cook, a Washington state cab driver turned investment guru, has had a series of entanglements with controversy -- and the law -- over the years. His aggressive short-term stock strategies have drawn criticism from the investment community and investigations from the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as several state agencies.
Nonetheless, Cook's various enterprises -- including books, workshops, and an online service -- reportedly add up to more than $100 million in annual revenues.
The suit names a user with the identity "Delusional5," who posted a message on Yahoo's Business and Finance message board in January claiming that Cook had been arrested for accepting kickbacks, Anderson said. The company denied the allegation.
"What makes this 'virtual attack' even more egregious is the fact that these falsehoods are posted on Yahoo message boards for millions of people to read and they cannot be removed from the Internet by the company," Anderson said.
The company could file the subpoena against Yahoo as soon as this week to unmask the identities of "Delusional5" and nine other users who posted similar messages, Anderson said.
Anderson said that while the suit did not name Yahoo, and Cook had no immediate plans to name the Internet portal as a defendant, it was still a possibility.
Yahoo declined to comment on the suit.
Reuters contributed to this report.
