Freedom to Blog

I haven't really been able to delve into investigating the nitty gritty the recent attacks on blogging, but luckily Robin at Snarkmarket found the relevant Dan Gillmor post for me.

So first it seems that most people regard FEC Commissioner Bradley Smith's CNET interview, which I blogged last week, to have been saber-rattling meant exactly to get liberal bloggers like me upset with McCain Feingold. That diagnosis works as long as the FEC doesn't go down the route he warned of. So we'll see. I liked Robin's idea of drowning out the money in money in politics with more money.

Gillmor spares no wrath for Apple Computer's going after bloggers as non-journalists in its bid to find the leaker of its corporate secrets. I want to say that I sympathise with the need for an entity to keep its work secret, and NDAs ought to be honored, but what I find disgusting is the strategy that Apple used. When you go to court arguing a certain principle, you really better believe in that principle, and not just be using it for to further narrow concerns of immediate legal tactics. Court decisions set precedent, and are part of the law. For Apple to go to court and argue that online journalists are not actually journalists is really disturbing. To me it indicates that their entire marketing persona, promoting do-it-yourself-ness, is completely insincere. I'm hoping that's wrong and they'll come to their senses. They're a very beloved company of a lot of friends of mine, and in a world where we have so many companies to hate I'd like to keep a few companies to love. But honestly, I am less interested in getting an Apple right now.