Police seized Gizmodo editor Jason Chen's computers. Understandable, given that Gizmodo bought a prototype cellphone which may have been stolen! The obvious assumption is that they believe Chen may have been party to a crime, but it's also true that the police's priorities are not those of Apple. The raid could be aimed mostly at learning the identity of the original thief. Stepping beyond the particulars here, however skeevy they may be, this could spell trouble in blogland: a source can't know what a journalist might do that authorities could use as a pretext to search, and a journalist can't know what a source might have done that could be used as pretext to search, either. Gizmodo's lawyer, Gaby Darbyshire, suggests that the relevant journalistic shield laws should prevail.
Sent from James' iPhone
No comments:
Post a Comment