Bloggers have same rights as regular journalists in the US
Posted on Tue, May 30, 2006 at 11:16 PM by Andrew Chadwick
Update to a development discussed in the Conclusion to Internet Politics. In March 2005, a Santa Clara County Superior Court decision ruled that bloggers were not entitled to the same First Amendment protections as regularly employed journalists. The case involved Apple Computer's subpoenaing of three gossip blog owners on the grounds that the sites published trade secrets about forthcoming Apple products. The company sought the names of the sites' 'insider' sources. The fact that these blogs act as wonderful free publicity for the company seems to have escaped their notice, but the longer term implications for more overtly political blogs could have been significant, had it not been for today's decision.