California judge rejects contention that reality TV producer under shield law

A San Francisco judge has ruled that California’s shield law does not extend to a reality TV show producer who was claiming he was exempt from supplying footage of an alleged car theft to a judge. The producers of the reality show “Bait Car” had contended that the show was a news program and its [...]

iPhone caper: First Amendment lawyers question warrant on Gizmodo editor

First Amendment lawyers say that police should have never acceded to Apple’s pressure to search a Gizmodo.com editor’s house for evidence related to an alleged theft of an iPhone 4G prototype. They say the affadavit requesting the search did not disclose that the editor was a journalist nor mention the Federal Privacy Protection Act or [...]

Electronic Frontier Foundation says Gizmodo editor protected by California law and First Amendment

The Civil Liberties Director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation says regardless of suspicions that Gizmodo editor Jason Chen was in possession of a stolen iPhone, under the California shield law and the federal Privacy Protection Act, the police search of his home and seizure of his computers was illegal. -db Electronic Frontier Foundation Legal Analysis [...]

Police action in invading editor’s house in Gizmodo iPhone case said in conflict with California law

A director at the Citizen Media Law Project at Harvard says that in seizing a Gizmodo editor’s computers, the police most likely violated the state’s shield law.-db Citizen Media Law Project Commentary April 26, 2010 By Sam Bayard Gizmodo announced this afternoon that California police seized computers and servers from the home of its reporter/editor [...]