Critics Say They Plan To Fight Court Order

Have employees at Eclipse Aviation -- or others closely tied to the Albuquerque, NM-based planemaker, including customers -- disclosed proprietary information on a online forum critical of the company? That's the question a subpoena issued by a California court seeks to answer.

The subpoena was filed last week by the Superior Court of California in Santa Clara County, ordering Google to provide information about 29 anonymous posters to the "Eclipse Aviation Critic NG" blog, hosted by the online mega-provider's Google Blog service. Eclipse wants to know if some or all of those posters are current or former employees, or others bound by non-disclosure agreements with the company.

The subpoena includes the online identities of those who have posted on the current blog, as well as the original "Eclipse Aviation Critic" blog launched in April 2006, and discontinued in January.

Several posters have claimed to be Eclipse employees, or to have detailed information about the state of the very-light-jet manufacturer.

Speaking to the Albuquerque Journal, Eclipse CEO Vern Raburn denied his company is targeting critics in the subpoena. "We're not trying to suppress dissension or criticism," he said. "We're just trying to find out where it's coming from."

Unless a formal objection is filed by May 9, Google would be required to provide the IP addresses of the anonymous posters named in the subpoena. That information could, in turn, be used to track down the posters' true identities -- including names and addresses -- though a court order would be needed to obtain that information from each Internet Service Provider.

Shane Price -- who started the "NG" blog (a play on Eclipse's Avio NG avionics suite) after original operator Stan Blankenship stopped updating his site, citing fears of "retribution" by Eclipse or its investors --  told the Journal many posters, whether they were named in the subpoena or not, have vowed to fight the court's order.

Eclipse's action is the second time this year an aircraft maker has taken measures against comments posted on an online forum. As ANN reported, Wichita-based planemaker Cessna revamped its own blog, established to market its SkyCatcher LSA, after the site was deluged by comments critical of the company's decision to build the plane in China. The new SkyCatcher site, unveiled in February, does not allow open postings -- comments must be approved by an online moderator before they are posted online.

To its credit, Cessna said at the time it would continue to allow critical comments on the new blog... though such comments are hard to find on the current site. In a similar vein, Raburn denies claims he is trying to quell criticism of Eclipse by seeking action against the anonymous posters to the Critic blog.

"I don't care if people want to waste their lives speculating about things, but I do care when people represent themselves as having insider knowledge and what they're saying is overt lies," Raburn said. "I'm trying to figure out why they make these accusations but don't say who they are."

Raburn did confirm the subpoena is connected to a civil case, however, filed last month in Albuquerque's Metropolitan Court against unknown defendants. The details of that case were sealed the day it was filed... but that likely means Eclipse's action against those the company says have said things they shouldn't, may have only just begun.

Stay tuned.

FMI: www.eclipseaviation.com