Bloggers are one step closer to having the same Federal protections as journalists. The House of Representatives passed the Free Flow of Information Act Tuesday with a sure-to-be-tested veto-proof majority.

According to Speaker Pelosi's website:

A blogger who regularly engages in journalistic activities – such as gathering and publishing news and information for dissemination to the public – and does so for a substantial portion of the person’s livelihood or for substantial financial gain would be covered by the shield as a journalist.

This is obviously subject to judicial interpretation, especially the "substantial portion" clause. I really don't trust the Bush DoJ (if I can call it that) to make the right judgements here; you know how they feel about science, technology, and the Internets.