On January 30, 1997, annoy.com filed a federal court action seeking declaratory and injunctive relief challenging the provisions of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) of 1996 that criminalized any "indecent" computer communication intended to "annoy" another person. Much of the content on annoy.com is deliberately provocative and very often, somewhat crass,mocking the pretensions and piety of politicians and media alike. The CDA’s assault on the First Amendment could not be countered with subtleties. So began a prolonged court battle against Janet Reno and the Clinton Administration that was finally determined by the Supreme Court of the United States of America.

[Learn about Apollomedia v. Reno]

In June 1999 the government ordered ApolloMedia to disclose the identity of a user of our site annoy.com's popular electronic greeting card service. The service facilitates anonymous communications. The information they were seeking followed a similar attempt in April 1999 by the University of Houston, which tried unsuccessfully to obtain ApolloMedia records. At the same time the court slapped a gag order on ApolloMedia. We were ordered to refrain from discussing not only the content of the order with anyone until authorized by the court, but the very existence of the order and its application. The unprecedented blanket gag order was unlimited in time and scope. Payback for our own Supreme Court lawsuit against the United States, ApolloMedia v. Reno?

[Learn about United States v. ApolloMedia]

History: Snapshots of the events, people and brands -- and lawsuits, that are rooted in annoy.com's already formidable five year history. Use the drop-down menu above to select the history you would like to see.