The mainstream media are picking up the story that in the US, online journalists now have the same legal protection as their offline colleagues.

This follows a landmark decision overturning an earlier ruling which would have forced the publishers of Power Page and Apple Insider to reveal their sources to Apple boss Steve Jobs.

"Applying traditional First Amendment protections to the exploding universe of online journalism, a state appeals court on Friday rejected Apple Computer's bid to unearth the identities of individuals who leaked inside information on a new company product to bloggers," was the way the Mercury News summed it up.

Canada does not, however, have similar First Amendment rights and here, another multi-million-dollar company, this time Kazaa owner Sharman Networks, is also threatening an online reporter.

Sharman and Kazaa ceo Nikki Hemming are claiming they were defamed and as part of their suit, are demanding that p2pnet hand over the identities of comment posters.

In the US case, the EFF Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) acted for the online reporters.

In Canada, p2pnet publisher Jon Newton is at this point without legal representation. He has, however, declared that if necessary, in the interests of freedom of speech, he'll defend the case by himself before a Canadian jury. He's launched the Stop-the-Blogsuit Campaign to raise funds.

Also See:
landmark decision - Massive win for online journalists, May 26, 2006
Mercury News - Apple loses case against bloggers, May 27, 2006
also threatening - Publishing in Cyberia, May 24, 2006