The EFF reports on an impending legal case that could have a huge impact on online criticism - namely big corporations are fighting against your right to party - and by party, I mean criticize them online and keep your sources confidential like every other journalist protected under the First Amendment. I guess democracy is a scary thing if you're used to getting away with things.

Derek Slater describes the case:

On April 20, a California Court of Appeal will hear arguments in Apple v. Does, a case in which EFF is fighting to ensure that bloggers and other online writers get the same rights as offline journalists and can protect the confidentiality of their sources. Apple has demanded that the three online journalists defended by EFF turn over the identities of sources that allegedly leaked information about new Apple products.

He goes on to quote defendant Jason O'Grady in the case, and the point that he makes, makes the machinations of Apple look a little scary, if not a little sinister:

"Apple feels that independent online journalists are not protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and that a journalists [sic] confidential communications and sources should be exposed to them or any large corporation that doesn't like what they publish - at will. I think that this is completely wrong on several levels....

This case is not about me, it's not about Apple and it's not about the technology industry. It's about the First Amendment."

This is more than a little terrifying. Though I don't tend to deal in anonymous sources, you know, very rarely do i do a revealing interview with a corporate whistle-blower for this blog. But the point is, why on earth wouldn't online journalists, bloggers, writers, or whatever you'd like to call them (us?)be protected like everybody else? It's an attempt on the part of corporations to circumvent the most democratic of all media outlets, and it's frightening to think that were this to go through, the government would essentially be deciding that people who engage in what is generally considered journalism aren't actually journalists because of the medium they're working in. This may not be about the technology industry and its critics, as O'Grady says, but it is most definitely about technology itself, and the ability of technology to endure as a democratizing force.