Thursday, October 04, 2007

Good news.. but wait, what about the terrorists and pedophiles!!

 

Reading the news today, I came across this bit, which by itself is pretty good news.  It, if passed, would extend reporter's privilege to federal cases; such already exists for all states, including DC.  It also, as a side effect, would include Bloggers, or anyone else involved in "the regular gathering, preparing, collecting, photographing, recording, writing, editing, reporting, or publishing of news or information that concerns local, national, or international events or other matters of public interest for dissemination to the public".

Anyone regularly engaged in "journalism," which would seem to include some bloggers, wouldn't generally be forced to divulge confidential sources in federal cases under a bill approved Thursday by a U.S. Senate committee.

By a 15-2 vote, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee backed an amended version of the so-called Free Flow of Information Act. Sens. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) cast the "no" votes.

Bloggers land legal shield in Senate panel vote | Tech news blog - CNET News.com

 

But wait, there's more!  You can't simply pass a new law these days; someone has to tie it to terrorism and child porn or child predators:

The Justice Department has argued that the language is far too broad and could endanger national security and criminal investigations. A Thursday Washington Post op-ed by U.S. attorney Patrick Fitzgerald claims the bill would unwittingly protect Iraqi spies posing as journalists and child pornographers who swapped information via the Internet.

Give me a break.  I'm sick and tired of everything being reduced to either terrorism or "protect the children!".  I'd vote for Mickey Mouse for president at this point if I thought he'd govern thru wisdom, and not thru fear mongering.