

Blogger's rights - hvasishth
http://www.techcrunch.com/2010/01/02/the-tyranny-of-government-and-our-duty-of-confidentiality-as-bloggers/

======
nfnaaron
Arrington takes Steven Frischling to task for "caving." Yet Frischling's own
attorney advised him that he had no legal basis for hiding his source.

I imagine that Arrington's own attorney would advise him essentially the same
way. I assume that Arrington and his company would comply with all other types
of subpoenas; assuming similar legal advice in a similar situation it's hard
to see why he would refuse to comply with this particular type of subpoena.

Bloggers may look like journalists to many of us, and many bloggers may feel
like journalists, but at least at present, as I understand it, bloggers are
not journalists in the eyes of the court. Bloggers are merely average Joes
with no special status. That should probably change, but we're far from there
yet.

Essentially, Arrington is blaming the victim. I suppose Frischling should have
worn a more modest constitutional dress if he didn't want to be raped by the
TSA. And yes, I consider threatening someone with the loss of their job to be
rape-like, and certainly far outside the bounds of professional law
enforcement conduct.

By the way, Chris Elliot, the other threatened blogger, wrote a very classy
thank you to all the people who helped him through the episode. He has nothing
but good words for Steven Frischling, and for the professional conduct of the
DHS agent who served the subpoena.

[http://www.elliott.org/blog/to-the-team-of-friends-allies-
an...](http://www.elliott.org/blog/to-the-team-of-friends-allies-and-advisers-
who-helped-make-the-subpoena-go-away/)

