Bush administration attacks 'shield' for bloggers

WASHINGTON--The Bush administration on Thursday blasted a congressional proposal that would shield a broad swath of news gatherers, including some bloggers, from revealing their confidential sources.

The latest draft of the Free Flow of Information Act would pose a grave threat to national security and federal criminal investigations by protecting far too large a segment of the population, a U.S. Department of Justice official told Congress.

A correction was made to this story. Read below for details.

"The definition is just so broad that it really includes anyone who wants to post something to the Web," Rachel Brand, assistant attorney general in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Policy, said at a House Judiciary Committee hearing here. She also argued it would protect "a terrorist operative who videotaped a message from a terrorist leader threatening attacks on Americans."

Justice Department opposition has bedeviled Congress throughout its numerous attempts in recent years to enact federal shield laws. Supporters say such legislation is needed in light of high-profile cases involving New York Times reporter Judith Miller and what free-press advocacy groups characterize as a sharp rise in subpoenas to reporters in recent years.

Laws recognizing some form of "reporter's privilege" already exist in 49 states and the District of Columbia--but, crucially, do not shield journalists from federal prosecutors. The Bush Administration claims there's no evidence that source-related subpoenas to reporters are on the rise and argues that it already has robust internal guidelines, including a requirement that the attorney general personally approve such subpoenas and provide an appropriate balance between press freedom and investigative needs.

What is extent of 'Second Life' problems?

The blogosphere is in a bit of a tizzy Wednesday about problems plaguing the virtual world, Second Life. The question is: Are the problems people are worked up about new, or ongoing? And does that matter?

The main issue raised in the original blog entry on Gamer.Blorge.com was that Second Life is experiencing six hours of downtime. And to hear other blogs, like TechCrunch position it, this is kind of a noteworthy occurrence.

The truth is that Second Life frequently down on Wednesdays, because that's when its publisher, Linden Lab, releases updates to its client software.

And it's true that some users are upset today about the downtime. But they're also upset every time the "grid" goes down for the several hours it takes to complete an upgrade. After all, there are countless businesses that can't sell things, and countless people who can't get in-world to do whatever it is they want to do.

For many longtime Second Life users, the issue this raises is not about any individual shutting down of the grid, but rather that it has to happen so frequently. The Second Life software is built in such a way that the constant bug fixes, updates, new features and such can really only be implemented through these periodic updates, and the unfortunate side effect is semi-regular downtime.

There's no question it's annoying. But is it news? Not really.

On the other hand, there was news out of Europe that police in Britain, Belgium and the Netherlands are looking at Second Life and trying to decide whether in-world stalking should be prosecuted as a crime.