[unstatusthequo]

Attorney here. Specialize in e-discovery.

Because he said something at all. Though, HN is probably not akw hanging fruit for anything. Unless your founder is here and knows you are. Or if you re-use that username then when they look for your social media they will find it.

[mike_n]

Hey, for the benefit of the community, can you give an idea of what sort of stuff is practically available/discoverable to people like yourself? maybe a link to a white paper, or even just best practice recommendations for people who want to have an online presence (FB/reddit/github/HN/etc comments + likes, tor or torrent use, google searches, amazon orders, alexa/siri, email/calls/texts, etc... not illegal use, just perhaps colorful) but not get screwed over in personal/professional cases? do amazon/google/reddit/etc provide records if subpoena'd, or can you just see what's kept on my local machine/phone?

[bradleyjg]

Okay, suppose they discover this post. So what? How does that prejudice his case in any way?

[adventured]

They'll attempt to find a mis-statement, a slip up of any kind that doesn't jive with any part of the rest of the picture / claim in question. They may look at the post for anything negative directed at a given person or the company, or slander generally (eg second line from end). Even if it's a stretch. From there it's a short hop to tossing around a few legal threats to end or substantially complicate the entire thing for most people on the other side.

[bradleyjg]

Can you point me to a few reported cases where this happened?

Lawyers have thier own urban legends, just like every other profession.

[avinium]

You're right - I can't see anything that would possibly prejudice his case.

While it's typical for lawyers to instruct clients "don't say a word" - making it easier for them to control the narrative - in this instance, it's entirely unnecessary.

In other contexts, I'd go further and say it might even be risky to do so, given there are laws around deleting/preserving evidence when litigation is anticipated.

Here, though, it's just a fairly innocuous request for advice.

[javajosh]

Isn't it too bad that he doesn't name names? Isn't that what reputation should mean, that we fear having it tarnished by our bad behavior? If victims aren't even willing to go that far, then why believe them?