Go ahead and spill your secrets to us bloggers. Apple won’t sue

Apple Computer has given up. Long known as obsessively secretive, Apple has decided not pursue its legal fight to force bloggers to divulge the names of those who leaked company documents about a yet-to-be-released digital music device.

Our Merc colleague John Boudreau has the story. In a court filing this week, Apple said it would not challenge a landmark ruling by the San Jose-based 6th District Court of Appeals in May that extended First Amendment protections to online publications, specifically PowerPage and AppleInsider. The Cupertino company had sought to compel the bloggers to expose their sources.

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We at SiliconBeat consider ourselves journalists by day, and also bloggers (on this site) by night. We are fortunate to have journalist status. This decision helps all the other bloggers out there that we rely on and link to. This decision, hopefully, will let you tip us and others off to developments with comfort you will not end up behind bars.