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Ex-professor caught in Web of controversy

The account information of a Web site described as slanderous is made public.

By CRISTINA SILVA
Published November 15, 2006

Web sites, including ones that may be mean-spirited, are protected by the First Amendment.

But when the Web site in question is about people in a small city where nearly everyone knows everyone else, it can incite fury and action.

Thus begins the saga of a man who became so upset about information written on an anonymous Web site based on the Silver Sands condominium on Sunset Way, that he spent years trying to uncover the identity of the person behind it.

Since 2004, posts on the site www.silversandsresidents.com have ridiculed St. Pete Beach city government and made comments about everything from people's haircut to their divorces.

For months, Tom Brodersen, a Silver Sands condominium owner, would tell anyone who would listen that he believed his neighbor, William Pyle, a former University of Massachusetts professor, was behind the site.

Pyle has always refused to say one way or the other whether he has anything to do with the site.

Some brushed off the accusations as just another political spat in a city with more than its fair share of them.

Pyle is an active member of the group Citizens for Responsible Growth, which fought to have the city charter amended to give voters greater control over development in the city. Brodersen is a member of the Alliance for a Balanced Community, a group that opposed the amendment changes.

Earlier this year, Brodersen said he contacted Wild West Domains Inc., an Internet company based in Scottsdale, Ariz., that sold the domain name. He told them the Web site was slanderous and that the account information should became public.

Last month, Brodersen was victorious. The account became public and the administration contact was listed to a Mr. William Pyle at 6600 Sunset Way. That is Silver Sands' address.

"Everyone knows it was Pyle, but no one could prove it before," said Brodersen, adding that some residents who were mentioned on the site are now considering suing Pyle for defamation of character.

Pyle was unmoved. As a member of the condominium's master board, he said it would be inappropriate for him to comment on why his address shows up under the Web site's contact information.

"He can say whatever he wants," he said of Brodersen.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the Web site was still up.

Cristina Silva can be reached at 727-893-8846 or csilva@sptimes.com.

[Last modified November 14, 2006, 21:37:17]