[DMCA-Activists] EFF: Court Crushes Online Journalists' Rights

[Seth Johnson]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Donna Wentworth <address@hidden>
Reply-To: <address@hidden>
Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 13:03:34 -0800
To: <address@hidden>
Subject: [E-B] EFF: Court Crushes Online Journalists' Rights

Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release

For Immediate Release: Friday, March 11, 2005

Contact:

Kurt Opsahl
   Staff Attorney
   Electronic Frontier Foundation
   address@hidden
   +1 415 436 9333 x106

Cindy Cohn
   Legal Director
   Electronic Frontier Foundation
   address@hidden
   +1 415 436-9333 x108 (office), +1 415 307-2148 (cell)

Court Crushes Online Journalists' Rights

EFF Asking California Apellate Court to Intervene

Santa Clara - Today Santa Clara County Superior Court
Judge James Kleinberg ruled that an online journalist's
Internet service provider (ISP) can be required to
reveal the identities of the reporter's confidential
sources to attorneys from Apple Computer, Inc.  The
court rejected a request for an order to protect the
confidentiality of the sources and other unpublished
information.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), along with
co-counsel Thomas Moore III and Richard Wiebe, is
representing the journalist, and will be asking the
California Appellate Court to intervene.

"We're disappointed that the trial court ignored the
Supreme Court's requirement that seeking a journalist's
confidential sources be a 'last resort' in civil
discovery," said EFF Staff Attorney Kurt Opsahl.
"Instead, the court asserts a wholesale exception to
the journalist's privilege when the information is
alleged to be a trade secret."

"This is a broad-brush ruling that threatens journalists
of all stripes," said EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn.

This landmark case was the first in which a court heard
arguments that online reporters' confidential sources and
unpublished materials are protected by both the reporter's
shield in the California constitution and the reporter's
privilege under the federal First Amendment.  But the court
did not restrict its ruling to online journalists, instead
deciding that all journalists could be required to reveal
confidential sources when a claim of trade secret is
raised.

Apple is suing several unnamed individuals, called "Does,"
who allegedly leaked information about an upcoming product
code-named "Asteroid."  Apple has subpoenaed Nfox, the
ISP for PowerPage.com publisher Jason O'Grady, demanding
that the ISP turn over the communications and unpublished
materials O'Grady obtained while he was gathering
information for his articles about "Asteroid."  Apple has
also been granted permission to issue subpoenas directly
to EFF clients PowerPage and AppleInsider for similar
information, but these have not yet been issued and were
not ruled on today.

Court ruling:
http://www.eff.org/Censorship/Apple_v_Does/20050311_apple_decision.pdf

Case summary:
http://www.eff.org/Censorship/Apple_v_Does/case_summary.pdf

More about Apple v. Does:
http://www.eff.org/Censorship/Apple_v_Does/

For this release:
http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2005_03.php#003423

About EFF

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil
liberties organization working to protect rights in the
digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and
challenges industry and government to support free
expression and privacy online. EFF is a member-supported
organization and maintains one of the most linked-to
websites in the world at http://www.eff.org/


     -end-

-- 
Donna Wentworth
Web Writer/Activist
Electronic Frontier Foundation
<http://www.eff.org>

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