There is a report on the Free Flow of Information
Act of 2013, in the Senate, as offering source confidentiality protection to “professional”
journalists (paid to do it for a living) but not to amateur bloggers, and with
an exception when there is a real threat of violent crime or terrorism. The
Tennessean has an article “Who in the Wiki-age is a journalist” here. (paywall may be present). The law is worded so to as exclude someone who
intends to leak classified material illegally.
Diane Feinstein (D-CA) said she can’t consider every blogger a
professional journalist getting anonymity protection. Police, for example, would have discretion in
going after gang leaders or drug dealers mentioned in amateur blogs and
expecting bloggers to disclose them.
Govtrack has a page for S. 987 for the Free Flow of
Informaiton Act, here.
I have received a few “tips” over the years and on a
few occasions have called authorities and not published them. One tip may have been related to a possible
overseas terrorist attack on a bar or club in a southeast Asian country. It did
not happen, and a major arrest occurred a few days after I passed on the
email. I don’t know if my information
was used or not.
On another matter, let me note that many “anonymous”
comments get marked as potential spam before they come to me. Although I can publish anonymous comments, I
strongly prefer a real ID (preferably from a Google account) even if it is a
pseudonym. Use of some sort of ID
greatly improves the chances that the comment will be seen as legitimate and be
published. I do welcome criticism and do
welcome comments that disagree with what I say.
Just, as with anything online, use common sense. Don’t send “true” (or false) confessions.
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