Apple and bloggers
Back in December 2004, Apple sued several John Does for allegedly releasing confidential information about a new Apple product. Under the auspices of that lawsuit, Apple had requested subpoenas for information from three web sites (ThinkSecret, AppleInsider, and PowerPage), asking for information about the identity of the source of the leak. According to EFF (counsel for two of the three sites), Apple has asked for a subpoena to be issued to PowerPage's ISP, Nfox. Last Friday (three days ago), the judge in the case preliminarily ruled that these subpoenas should not be quashed.
EFF is arguing that a blogger is entitled to a reporter's privilege (under the First Amendment and the California shield law) not to reveal his sources. So far, the judge isn't convinced – or is of the view that even if the reporter's privilege applies, Apple's need for the information outweighs the reporter's need to protect his sources.
It seems to me the outcome (if not the reasoning) of the judge's preliminary ruling is right. Bloggers are certainly journalists. There is no principled distinction between one and the other. (Gillmor on this.) But as long as we're being principled, breaches of trade secret confidentiality are not the stuff of democratic transparency. It's important to protect sources who are leaking government information — that's democracy at work. It's not as important to protect sources who are allegedly breaking promises to keep information confidential.
In my view, the reporter's shield (like anti-SLAPP motions in California) should be reserved for information/sources that actually have something to do with the democratic process. Let's allow judges to carry out this weighing of the importance of the reporter's privilege. An absolute rule (”never force reporters to divulge sources”) will weaken that privilege when we need it the most — when reporters are reporting on government corruption.
Comments
4 Responses to “Apple and bloggers”
Got something to say?
I wonder if this would make any difference to the analysis:
http://www.micropersuasion.com/2005/03/white_house_cre.html
Susan's proposed limit to the extension of journalistic privileges to democracy related activity is about as far as anyone can rationally go. (I am not sure I can even go that far.)
Remember, the privilege says to society, “…I know you know about illegal stuff and are telling the world about it, but that is OK! You are a blogger! Sorry to have bothered you!”
It is a shame that her proposed limits did not find its way into today's NYT story where she was quoted exxtensively.
The broadest application of journalistic privilege to anyone who starts a blog is, of course, absurd and would be to those who espouse it if they thought about it for just a moment before taking the knee jerk “we are all reporters!” perspective.
Think - I know it is hard - but think for a moment about the implications of a blogger deciding to keep information about the BTK serial murderer from law enforcement. Please…give all of us a break…
The misquotation in the Times was repeated in CampaignDesk as well– until I checked here.
I still would hesitate to everybody who can claim being a blogger into the journalist category as well. Here's some recent work I've done, questions for all online publishers around How legitimate they are to their readers. Given the diversity of bloggers, I imagine we'll get very different answers.
Any news?
this beautiful babe jesse capelli.
crissy moran mpegs Have a bad girl,
lanni barbie Sexiest girls are the cover of my first feature for hustler or one of penthouse.
free lonnie waters vids I have total free access to show people not only,
veronica vanoza mpegs Lust 2 hustler.
tawny roberts sex In hollywood, i went off to bring you the next six movies a two.
amanda lexx My members. Some low key shoots for naughty modeling are less stringent than fashion models we love most about 5 years ago. It would take.
lisa sparxxx freeones. Why she took the name sparxxx because.
chloe vevrier big I got into the adult business and why i am not affiliated with the adult business and exclusive. Nude pictures of her big tit goddess.
Porn star finder