Apple v Does - Free Speech Wins/Bloggers are Journalists
Apple v Does - Free Speech Wins/Bloggers are Journalists:
I am extremely happy to tell you that there is a ruling [PDF] in the Apple v. Does litigation from the Appeals Court. As I told you, Groklaw joined in an amicus brief [PDF] on the issue of whether bloggers are journalists. (I naturally cared deeply about being able to protect my sources, one of the issues raised in the case.) The Appeals Court says they are. I'll put the entire ruling up as text as soon as I can, but I just couldn't wait to tell you about this. Lauren Gelman, at the Center for Internet and Society,Stanford Law School, who did the heavy lifting on the amicus brief, says this about the ruling: The Court also held that the website editors were journalists entitled to claim California’s Journalist Shield to prevent them from being held in contempt for not disclosing sources and to claim the First Amendment’s protections for journalists.This is a *huge* win! Now journalists can feel safe knowing that they can protect their sources’ identity no matter in which medium they choose to disseminate news (as we argued in our amicus brief).