Great post over at MichelleMalkin.com about Apple's lawsuit against an online magazine or blog (I have heard it referred to as both) that released information about upcoming products before Apple announced them.

According to the post:

Gillmor also calls attention to The Free Flow of Information Act (H.R. 581), a bill pending in the U.S. House that is apparently modeled after California's Shield Law. But as Gillmor notes, H.R. 581 "sharply circumscribes the definition of who's a journalist -- and appears to explicitly exclude bloggers and other non-traditional online journalists."

The legislation would only protect:

A) an entity that disseminates information by print, broadcast, cable, satellite, mechanical, photographic, electronic, or other means and that--

(i) publishes a newspaper, book, magazine, or other periodical;

(ii) operates a radio or television broadcast station (or network of such stations), cable system, or satellite carrier, or a channel or programming service for any such station, network, system, or carrier; or

(iii) operates a news agency or wire service;

(B) a parent, subsidiary, or affiliate of such an entity; or

(C) an employee, contractor, or other person who gathers, edits, photographs, records, prepares, or disseminates news or information for such an entity.

Therefore, Gillmor says, "bloggers need not apply unless they work for a major publication or broadcast. See a pattern?"

I think I see a loophole though. I just printed out my blog - so I have now published it on to paper - and it has become a newspaper, or should I go with magazine? Or other periodical? I think the money is in magazines, so my printout of my blog is a magazine!

I feel like a "real" journalist now!

This whole situation makes me think of an old cliche - if a blog is published in cyberspace and no one is around to read it, does it make a sound?