First Amendment works on the internet

By Michael Fraase

Saturday, 27 May 2006 10:44AM CST

Section: Censorship

In a decision that shouldn’t have been surprising but was, a California appeals court ruled yesterday that all journalists—online or off—are protected by the same confidentiality laws, commonly known as “shield laws.” Apple Computer had sought to identify leakers of confidential information and won the initial decision on trade secret grounds. A three-judge panel in San Jose overturned the original trial court’s ruling and also held that a subpoena issued by Apple to obtain “electronic communications and materials” from an internet service provider was invalid. Instead of bringing a lawsuit against PowerPage and Apple Insider—online publishers—directly, Apple instead tried to subpoena the publishers’ email and the email records of their internet service providers.

The appeals court was frank in its opinion:

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