To me there have been at least three decisions by California Court Judges that have sent World wide a legal precedence for the new News Media- that is the email and the blogging..
1- The California judges had previously confirmed and ruled that a person can write non profit, non commercial emails, letters to any individuals, groups, email addresses and this is not spam, but their own personal right of freedom of speech.
also...
"Apple court loss a landmark win for new media By Stan Beer Sunday, 28 May 2006Apple showed recently that it can go to court and be successful against old media companies like Apple Corp. However, when confronted with new media journalism, Apple finally met its match on the legal battle field. In a landmark decision, a California appeals court has ruled that bloggers are journalists and therefore subject to the same rights and protections as print journalists.
The attempt by Apple to force bloggers and an ISP to reveal the identities of sources that had leaked company information about a new device on the drawing boards has failed. This may be bad news for Apple and other technology vendors but good news for the online publishing industry and the free flow of information in its many shapes and forms.
In the final analysis, however, how could the unanimous three judge decision have gone any other way. With each passing day, the world of print journalism becomes less relevant, while online media, through news websites, blogs, forums and social networks, becomes the primary source of information for more than 1 billion people globally. To argue that writers for the new media should not be afforded the same privileges available to writers for a dying medium is ludicrous.
This is not to say that Apple did not have a right to pursue any errant employees within its organisation that may have leaked the information to the media. Divulging confidential information about intellectual property is a serious offence and Apple was perfectly within its rights to take whatever action the company deemed necessary to find the identity of the offenders.
However, for whatever reason, Apple chose the wrong targets. Instead of going after online journalists and internet service providers, Apple should have conducted a thorough internal investigation of its own staff and processes. As a result of its actions, Apple has only succeeded in alienating an increasingly powerful media bloc by attempting to denigrate its status and importance in the current environment of information dissemination.
This is a pity. A large section of Apple's target market is the very same people who shun print media and obtain most of their information from online sources.
And speaking of sources, one of the cherished principles that all journalists worth their salt adhere to is to protect your sources at all costs. For some journalists the cost has been great but they have stuck by their principles even to the point of going to jail. However, in the final analysis, journalists have little choice if they want to stay within the profession. Journalists who cannot guarantee confidentiality to their sources are journalists not worth talking to. Apple, welcome to the world of online journalism!
3- We already know also how the suppression of free speech, and too often associated with obstruction of justice and exposure, prosecution of the really guilty persons too, any where in the world, on the Internet as well is unacceptable.. even in any city, province in Canada.I rightfully also do no longer put up with any personal abuse even of me too quietly as well. Now my own decades of personal experiences in Canada is that Ethnic, religious, professional, political, majority or minority groups often have falsely tried to obstruct personal free speech and to my own personal lack of expectation, surprise as well that has even firstly included In Canada church Pastors,elders and deacons, even Evangelical, Catholics, Muslims, Jews, non Christians, and Liberals, Conservatives, New Democrats, Albertans, governments, civil and public servants, mayors, premiers, prime ministers, cabinet ministers, cops and individual citizens too... as I have often rightfully fully exposed, and fully detailed to all many times too, even world wide too, for all persons to know, AND FOR ALL TO DEAL WITH IT TOO, even on the Internet as any suppressing of anyone's personal freedom of speech still rightfully being totally unacceptable.The truth is being shouted from the Housteops still..- Liberal B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell said he prefers that new spending or federal transfers go to aboriginal programs, transportation infrastructure, post-secondary education, job training or even tax breaks for citizens. He also isn't crazy about the language used to describe which provinces are net contributors to, and recipients of, the program. He said taxpayers in Ontario and especially Alberta are not always recognized for their generosity."There is no such thing as a have-not province in Canada. There are giving provinces and taking provinces. That's what it is," said Campbell Thursday. "And I'm talking about taxpayers here."
- "If the press gallery finds a million ways to get back at Harper, that will be fine by me. With his gag order, flip-flop, snit and hissy fit, he does not strike me as someone Canadians should ever entrust with a majority government." Harry Bruce
- " The practice of government compiling a list of reporters who want to ask questions doesn't sit particularly well with me, no matter how it's done. The act is one of control. And the media, in order to do its job properly, needs to resist government control, no matter how little that control may be. Second, if traditional scrums are too messy, the list-system is far too controlled. Once a reporter has asked one question, they can't ask another one that may pop into their head five minutes later. That's a serious compromise for a journalist. Thirdly, reporters can't follow up on each others questions with this system. There is a certain dynamic that happens in scrums where, if allowed, reporters, as a group, can get answers from politicians they wouldn't ordinarily get. That's now gone. Lastly, there is the possibility that government could exclude some reporters from asking questions by intentionally putting them at the bottom of the list, although I've seen no evidence of that. In a free and democratic society, any system that allows journalists to ask questions freely and unencumbered is better than one that includes government control, no matter how seemingly insignificant that control may be. That's really the bottom line here. And that's why national reporters continue to boycott the new protocol. " Tom Brodbeck
- "We now have a government that has reneged or will renege on every deal with our native people. It is outrageous that Stephen Harper can axe deals that were already signed and set in motion. Maybe this government should use the money set aside for tax cuts to help the people of Kashechewan relocate. The list of harm this government is doing to Canadians grows almost daily — Kyoto, Kelowna Accord, universal daycare, muzzled MPs, Afghanistan and restrictions on the coverage of returning war dead. Where is Harper's humanity and sense of justice? What is his secret agenda?" Bev Langill,
- "The Accountability Act, which embodies a main plank in Stephen Harper's election platform, appears to need a major makeover... There's no question reform is needed to attempt, at least, to corral corruption in the aftermath of the sponsorship scandal. The challenge for the Conservative government is to go beyond making political hay of the scandal and bring in effective, workable legislation. Since, by all appearances, it has failed to do so, it must be hoped the Tory leadership has the humility and wisdom to go back to the drawing room and get it right. " The London Free Press
-" Given the damage the sponsorship scandal did to the Liberal brand, the last thing the party needed was another hint of scandal. If Joe Volpe wants his party's image to be restored, he should withdraw from the party's leadership race now... The Volpe farce will do nothing to rehabilitate the federal Liberal party from the reputation for sleaze it acquired as a result of Adscam. Unless the Liberals who choose their next leader are pathetically naive -- or think voters are -- Volpe is dead in the water already. " The London Free Press
- For the 64 millions of dollars so far the RCMP caught supposedly 17 potential terrorists in Canada out the hundreds still in hiding?