Judge: Reporters Will Need to Act Like Drug Dealers

Reporters, or bloggers, who want to protect a source's identity had better stop using the phone if they want to keep their conversations out of government hands.

A Federal Court in New York issued a First Amendment-busting 2-1 ruling yesterday that government investigators can have access to reporters' phone records, in a case relating to two New York Times reporters, two reporters, Judith Miller and Philip Shenon.

“We see no danger to a free press in so holding," stated Judge Ralph "Blind Justice" Winter for the majority, as several monkeys flew out his ass.

Judge Robert Sack, writing in his lone dissent, succinctly explains the problem such a ruling causes a free press:

“Reporters might find themselves,” he says, “as a matter of practical necessity, contacting sources the way I understand drug dealers do to reach theirs — by use of clandestine cell phones and meeting in darkened doorways. Ordinary use of the telephone could become a threat to journalist and source alike. It is difficult to see in whose best interests such a regime would operate.”

Noted the NY Times: "[the decision] dealt a further setback to news organizations, which have lately been on a losing streak in the federal courts."

via Buzz Blog