Friday, March 04, 2005

Bloggers Everywhere Groan

This is a terrible blow for us, and kind of hints at the changes that are coming from the FEC. If the only people who can be considered journalists are those that join certain organizations, then this creates what is essentially a monopoly; both in terms of the corporate dominance of the media industry, and medium discrimination. I don't need to tell you what a bottleneck of information this will create.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4319715.stm

Blogger blow in Apple leak case
Apple's MacWorld conference

The ruling could be a blow for bloggers

Three blogs which revealed sensitive information about upcoming Apple products could be made to disclose where the leaks came from.

A California judge said in a preliminary ruling that bloggers should not have the same protection afforded to journalists under US law.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), representing the sites, said it was disappointed and would appeal.

It is a big win for Apple in the first leg of the lawsuits, filed in December.

The preliminary ruling could be far-reaching for bloggers who disclose information about companies in the future.

Famously secretive

Over four months, Apple has filed against PowerPage, Apple Insider and Think Secret to find out how the websites obtained details of unreleased products, code-named Asteroid and Q97.

The EFF argued that those writing for blogs, websites which increasingly act as "unofficial" news sources, should get the same First Amendment and California Shield Law protection as journalists.

The law is designed to protect journalists from being forced to reveal the names of sources or supply unpublished materials, if the matter reported is in the public's interest.

The lawsuits were filed by Apple just weeks before the MacWorld conference in San Francisco which is used to showcase new products.

Apple is famously secretive about its future product launches while Apple users are equally famous for speculating about new technology from the company.

In December 2002, Apple sued a former contractor who allegedly posted online drawings, images and engineering details of the company's PowerMac G4 computer.

Posted by crimnos @ 3:14 PM