Wired: A judge on Friday ordered three independent online reporters to divulge confidential sources in a lawsuit brought by Apple Computer, ruling that they were not protected by the First Amendment because they published trade secrets.

The ruling alarmed speech advocates, who saw the case as a test of whether people who write for web publications enjoy the same legal protections as reporters for mainstream publications. Among those are protections afforded under California’s "shield" law, which is meant to encourage the publication of information in the public’s interest.