A man who posted an anonymous comment on dailyherald.com directed toward the teenage son of Buffalo Grove Trustee Lisa Stone is fighting to keep his identity a secret.

"John Doe" hired attorney Mike Furlong and filed a motion in court last week to stop Stone from obtaining his identity.

Cook County Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey Lawrence will hear arguments Nov. 9.

Last month, Lawrence ordered Comcast, the man's Internet service provider, to turn over John Doe's name to him. The judge has not yet decided whether he will give the information to Stone.

If he does, it could be a precedent-setting case, say First Amendment scholars. They say it's unusual for a judge to order identification of an online commentor unless the need to do so is clear - such as knowledge of a crime or a blatant threat. While anonymous free speech is a protected right under the First Amendment, anonymous online comments are still an emerging area of the law.

Furlong would not comment on what John Doe wrote online, saying only that he will use the First Amendment as part of his argument.

Bill O'Connor, Lisa Stone's attorney, said they will continue their pursuit of John Doe's real name, even though they have not yet decided whether to file a defamation lawsuit against him.

In April, while Stone was embroiled in a contentious village trustee election, her high school-aged son bickered back and forth with John Doe in the "readers comments" section of an election story on dailyherald.com.

Both were using made-up "usernames" and not their actual names.

During the exchange, John Doe made a comment that Lisa Stone found to be inappropriate. Stone asked the Buffalo Grove Police to investigate. When they determined no crime had been committed, Stone took her complaint to court.

In May, she filed a petition for pre-suit discovery - which is not a lawsuit, but a precursor to a lawsuit - against the Daily Herald seeking the person's identity.

The newspaper fought to protect the reader's privacy, but the judge ruled in Stone's favor, ordering the Daily Herald to turn over all of the information it had on John Doe, including his e-mail address and Internet Protocol (IP) address.

When the e-mail address proved invalid, Stone petitioned the man's Internet service provider, Comcast, for his identity. Comcast also fought to protect the customer's privacy, but the judge ruled on Stone's behalf again last month, ordering that John Doe's identity be turned over to him.

Comcast has since turned over the person's name to the judge, spokesman Rich Ruggiero said.

Daily Herald Staff Writer Barbara Vitello contributed to this report.