A report from ZDnet says the American Congress has passed a law to provide legal protections for bloggers:
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-11153_22-6200188.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=zdnn
The new law (passed with amendments) is called the Free Flow of Information Act 2007: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:H.R.2102:
Interestingly, they have defined bloggers as professional rather than hobbyist bloggers – they must derive financial income from their blogging.
“In response to concerns raised by the Bush administration and other politicians, the revised bill attempts to exclude the “casual blogger” from reaping those benefits by stipulating the protections apply only to those who derive “financial gain or livelihood” from the journalistic activity, Boucher said Wednesday. That broad rule could, however, include part-time writers who receive even a trickle of revenue from Google Ads or Blogads.com. “
This kind of law is definitely a step in the right direction. I note that they watered it down with the (these days, seemingly standard) terrorism exclusion:
“In the approved version, people eligible for the privilege could be forced to reveal their sources when it’s necessary to prevent an “act of terrorism” against the United States or its allies, when it’s clear that crimes have been committed, when “significant specified harm” to national security could occur, or when trade secrets, nonpublic personal information or health records are compromised in violation of existing laws. The person seeking to compel the journalist to turn over the information would also have to exhaust “all reasonable alternative sources.” “
I wonder how the blogosphere will react to the new legislation. I think legal protections for bloggers was a necessary step – but it’s interesting to consider whether having a more legally defined status will have a flow-on effect of creating more professional and legal responsibilities for bloggers. For example, will bloggers need to start respecting journalistic conventions such as “off the record” and so forth? There was an amusing take on this in the West Wing season 6 – when Josh Lyman called a blogger, said “this is off the record” and then had a vitriolic spray at her. He then watches in horror as everything he’d said on the phone starts turning up on her blog within seconds. Her response? “I’m not a journalist…”
I will also be interested to see what reaction, if any, the Australian government has to the new American laws. We’re not great at protecting journalists in this country, so I don’t see bloggers rights on the agenda anytime soon…
