Academic

BACKDOWN? TSA drops subpoenas issued to bloggers who published security directive. Well, it was ?

By Glenn Reynolds

BACKDOWN? TSA drops subpoenas issued to bloggers who published security directive.

Well, it was getting a lot of bad publicity. And, as I’ve suggested before, bullying bloggers is a bad bet. But, from the comments at BoingBoing, “As a forensic computer examiner, I’m now wondering what they did with the forensic images that they made of these guy’s computers.”

Meanwhile, all bloggers should get one of these! That said, I’m a bit torn. I don’t believe in “shield laws” that would let journalists avoid subpoenas or testimony because of their profession; if such should exist, they should include bloggers but I’d rather they didn’t. This, however, looked more like bullying than a legitimate inquiry. It will backfire, of course, as bloggers will no doubt pay more attention to the TSA’s doings as a result. Maybe that’s punishment enough . . . .

Full post as published by Instapundit.com on December 31, 2009 (boomark / email).