Wow, this could be an interesting test case, folks.

Gizmodo editor and blogger Jason Chen has had his house raided and his computer and other equipment confiscated [1] by a California computer crime task force in Fremont, CA (in the SF Bay Area.) Gizmodo is a tech and gadget oriented blog from the Gawker empire, which acquired what appeared to be a prototype for the next generation of iPhone. Apparently, this prototype "was found" (do you like the passive voice there?) in a bar and sold to Gizmodo for $5000. The blog posted about the iPhone and then Apple acknowledged that the gadget had been stolen. Gizmodo returned the prototype. (You can read Gizmodo's account of the whole story here [2].)

That should have been it, but then the raid happened.

Chen said a detective told him the search stemmed from "a misunderstanding that could be cleared up if I answered some questions." He refused to answer questions, according to the New York Daily News [3].

That sounds an awful lot like the raid was a strong-arm tactic to get Chen to give up the name of the person/s who "found" the prototype and sold it to Gizmodo. Gawker Media is claiming that Chen's stuff is protected [4] under a California law that prevents authorities from prying into a journalist's sources. It remains to be seen if Chen, a blogger, is to be considered a "journalist." I don't know about you, but I'm hoping to see this go to court. Could be important.