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Administration Opposes 'Shield' For Bloggers

Washington state thinks bloggers deserve a "shield" to protect their anonymous sources, but top law enforcers in this Washington remain opposed to the idea even after tweaks to a pending bill on the topic.

Here's a summary from Friday's AM Edition of Technology Daily:

The Bush administration still opposes legislation to shield reporters from being forced by federal prosecutors to reveal sources, even after the bill's sponsors added exceptions for national security, a Justice Department official said Thursday.

CongressDaily and News.com report that one of the bill's sponsors, Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., said it was changed in hopes of getting administration support for a federal shield law similar to those enacted in 32 states and the District of Columbia. The legislation would let prosecutors compel disclosure in certain cases, such as to prevent "imminent and actual" harm to national security or imminent death or bodily harm.

But Assistant Attorney General Rachel Brand said the proposal, which also would protect some bloggers, is too broad. "The definition is just so broad that it really includes anyone who wants to post something to the Web," she said.

That position is consistent with what a U.S. attorney told the Senate Judiciary Committee in a 2005 hearing on similar legislation.

Like Washington state, the latest state to enact a shield law, Texas has been considering a shield law. But the issue of whether to extend the protection to bloggers has been an issue there as well. Earlier this year, the sponsor of the legislation said it could not cover bloggers and still win passage, and when the state House rebuffed the bill in late May, that issue reportedly was a concern.

Even though the measure was written to exclude bloggers, apparently not everyone was convinced, according to Jeremy Warren, a spokesman for Senate Democratic bill sponsor Rodney Ellis. "There was concern over language difference," he said. "The National Manufacturers Association felt that the bill would include bloggers."

Count Rob Port of Say Anything as one blogger who doesn't think bloggers (or journalists) should have a shield to protect sources -- because he thinks the sources should be willing to take the heat for leaking information to the press.

"If some bureaucrat or partisan politician feels there is a government secret that the public simply must know about, let that bureaucrat or politician attach their name to the leak so that the public can decide whether or not the leak was justified and whether or not the person in question should be held accountable for the leak under the law," he wrote. "That way anyone thinking of leaking will think twice, as opposed to the leaking 'open season' that would exist should shield laws come into existence."

Posted by Danny | 12:05 PM

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