Why we have rules in the pit

Any comments on this?http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/tech/DailyNews/demon000331_segan.html

Or, how about this:
http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/tech/DailyNews/demon000331_segan.html

To quote Don Jaime,

Can a libel case be effectively pursued if the victim is anonymous?

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IANAL, and libel laws vary from state to state, but in general, the plaintiff must establish that a reasonable listener or reader would understand that the defamatory statement referred to the plaintiff. So a statement like, as a hypothetical example, “Otto is a thief” would not be defamatory because I could not establish that a reasonable person wouold understand that the statement referred to my offline persona. Now, if my offline ID were known, I might be able to meet this standard, but then I’d have to demonstrate that I experienced actual damages as a result of the statement.

In the specific case in question, the liable party was the ISP. US law specifically shields ISPs from legal responsibility for the actions of their subscribers. Any ISP worth its salt will no doubt, if they haven’t already, require that legal action be initiated in the jurisdiction in which the ISP is incorporated.