Bloggers, Civil Liberty Groups, Journalists vs. Apple Computer Heads to Court

[mandy]

...bloggers like Jason O'Grady...see themselves as journalists, worthy of the same legal protections as Woodward and Bernstein, the New York Times or any other traditional form of media.

The blogging world may soon find out whether the highest courts in California agree.

In a possible test of what, exactly, is a journalist in a proliferating universe of bloggers and Web masters, a San Jose appeals court on Thursday will consider whether sites like PowerPage are entitled to the same protections against divulging confidential sources as established media organizations.

The 6th District Court of Appeal will hear arguments in a case triggered by Apple, which two years ago went to court to unearth the identities of individuals who leaked confidential information on a new product called ``Asteroid'' to three Web pages...

full article: http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/silicon...361350.htm

[mandy]

Update: Apple Computer lost . Independent web publishers and sites, bloggers, and free speech advocates won. 

Full text of the court's decision: http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/doc...028579.PDF

News analysis of the decision:

Apple Computer suffered a setback in its effort to plug an internal leak, after a state appeals court ruled that the computer maker can't immediately get its hands on records of who may have contacted an Apple enthusiast site with details on an unreleased product...

The court's ruling is a boon to those who argued that journalists, including bloggers, should be entitled to protect confidential sources, and a setback for those who said that intellectual-property rights, in this case trade secret law, should take precedence...

Shield law protections
The appeals court pointedly took issue with Apple's argument that the Web sites were not legitimate journalistic enterprises. Apple had claimed that the sites were engaged not in "legitimate journalism or news" but instead in "trade secret misappropriation" and copyright violations.

full article: http://news.com.com/Apple+thwarted+in+bi...=nefd.lede

The rights of journalists under the Californis State Constitution:

"A publisher, editor, reporter or other person connected with or employed upon a newspaper, magazine, or other periodical publication...shall not be adjudged in contempt by a judicial, legislative or administrative body, or any other body having the power to issue subpoenas, for refusing to disclose the source of any information procured...for publication...or for refusing to disclose any unpublished information obtained or prepared in gathering, receiving or processing of information for communication to the public."

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/.const/.article_1