Lawsuit accuses Anna's Archive of hacking WorldCat

Re:Lawsuit accuses Anna's Archive of hacking WorldCat by sillysaurusx on Wednesday February 07, 2024 @02:58PM (#39293459)

Honest question: how is a lawsuit filed against someone whose identity isn’t known? Is there a term for it?

I’m curious about the specific mechanics of the lawsuit. Presumably the judge would make a ruling, and then that ruling would stick if and when the identity became known. But is that how it actually works?

Also, is there a way for Anna’s Archive to defend themselves without revealing their identity?

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Re:Lawsuit accuses Anna's Archive of hacking WorldCat by artninja1988 on Wednesday February 07, 2024 @03:01PM (#39293509)

>The complaint accuses Washington citizen Maria Dolores Anasztasia Matienzo and several “John Does” of operating the search engine and scraping WorldCat data. So I guess they're accusing Maria of running the site?

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Re:Lawsuit accuses Anna's Archive of hacking WorldCat by popcalc on Wednesday February 07, 2024 @04:06PM (#39294323)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/anastasiamatienzo

Library Aide Volunteer Mansfield Public Library

Applications Developer at AT&T

DOJ indictment is coming any day now... then 10-20 years in the slammer.

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Re:Lawsuit accuses Anna's Archive of hacking WorldCat by sillysaurusx on Wednesday February 07, 2024 @03:02PM (#39293523)

Oh.

Well. Thank you for pointing that out.

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Re:Lawsuit accuses Anna's Archive of hacking WorldCat by devilbunny on Wednesday February 07, 2024 @03:48PM (#39294115)

IANAL, but AIUI filing a John Doe lawsuit is acceptable because there are statutes of limitations on how long you have to file a suit. By filing a case with an unknown defendant, you protect your right to sue while you go about gathering evidence.

You’re still going to have to sue someone identifiable at the end of it, but they can’t argue that your suit is too old (since the reason it’s too old is that the defendant was hiding their identity, not that you weren’t timely in noticing and responding to the infringement).

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Re:Lawsuit accuses Anna's Archive of hacking WorldCat by wongarsu on Wednesday February 07, 2024 @03:11PM (#39293638)

If you aren't identified you can't defend yourself, which I assume would be an issue. I'd expect that the ruling can only stick for the one named defendant, unless the names of the other accused become known as the lawsuit progresses.

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Re:Lawsuit accuses Anna's Archive of hacking WorldCat by jessamyn on Monday February 12, 2024 @06:48PM (#39352260)

I believe part of the issue is that the other John Does may be people in other countries (according to the lawsuit) which may add to the issues with identifying and/or charging them.

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Re:Lawsuit accuses Anna's Archive of hacking WorldCat by Thoreandan on Wednesday February 07, 2024 @03:21PM (#39293748)

The term I've heard is "John Doe lawsuit"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fictitious_defendants https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doe_subpoena

There's several attorneys whose websites outline what's involved.

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