Raytheon v. John Does 1-21 was one of the first lawsuits a major company filed against anonymous people for what they posted online. In 1999, the defense contractor Raytheon sued 21 unnamed message board users, then used the lawsuit to force Yahoo to reveal who they were. The case raised a question courts are still answering: when should an online service have to unmask an anonymous user?
If an older article or encyclopedia sent you here, the original copy of Raytheon’s complaint from this site is preserved in the Internet Archive: view the archived page. You can also browse more early internet law cases.
What Happened
In the late 1990s, Yahoo’s finance message boards were a popular place for investors and employees to discuss companies anonymously. Raytheon came to believe that some of the people posting about it on Yahoo’s Raytheon board were its own employees, and that they were sharing confidential company information.
In February 1999, Raytheon sued 21 “John Doe” defendants in Middlesex Superior Court in Massachusetts, claiming they had broken their confidentiality agreements and revealed company secrets. Because it did not know who they were, Raytheon served a subpoena on Yahoo demanding information that would identify the users behind the screen names.
How the Case Ended
Yahoo turned over identifying information. Several of the posters turned out to be Raytheon employees, and some of them left the company. Once Raytheon knew who they were, it dropped the lawsuit a few months after filing it. There was never a ruling on whether any of the posts actually revealed secrets.
Why It Mattered
Critics argued that the case showed how a company could file a lawsuit just to learn the names of anonymous critics, without ever intending to prove its claims in court. Lawsuits like this came to be called “cyberSLAPPs,” after lawsuits meant to silence public participation.
Over the following years, courts developed tests for these situations. Many now require that the anonymous user be notified and given a chance to object, and that the company show real evidence for its claims before a service has to reveal the user’s identity. Online services also began notifying users before turning over their information in response to a subpoena.
What Insiders Revealed About Social Media
The Raytheon case was about insiders sharing what they knew about a company. Insiders have also played a major role in the lawsuits against social media companies. In 2021, a former Facebook employee made public tens of thousands of pages of internal documents, including company research on how Instagram affected teenage girls. Internal documents from Meta and other companies have since become central evidence in the lawsuits families have brought.
Those lawsuits claim the companies knew their apps could harm children and teens and failed to warn parents. Read more about what Meta’s internal documents show. If social media harmed your child, Doyle APC handles these claims together with experienced co-counsel. Learn who may qualify for compensation.
Common Questions
What was Raytheon v. John Does 1-21 about?
In 1999, Raytheon sued 21 anonymous Yahoo message board users, claiming they had revealed confidential company information, and used the lawsuit to get Yahoo to identify them.
Who were the anonymous posters?
Several turned out to be Raytheon employees. Raytheon dropped the lawsuit after learning who they were.
Can a company make a website reveal who posted anonymously?
Sometimes. Many courts now require that the user be notified and that the company show real evidence for its claims before a website has to disclose the user’s identity.
What is a cyberSLAPP?
A lawsuit filed mainly to unmask or silence an online critic rather than to win the case. The term comes from SLAPP, short for strategic lawsuit against public participation.
Who runs this site now?
Doyle APC, a San Diego law firm that represents people nationwide in mass tort cases. Doyle APC handles social media addiction claims together with experienced co-counsel. Learn more about the firm.