Via PR Differently, I find that Apple wants a caste system for journalists. If you write for a newspaper or trade journal, you're a pro. If not, you're a problem:

A California court in San Jose on Thursday is scheduled to hear a case brought by Apple Computer that eventually could answer an unsettled legal question: Should online journalists receive the same rights as traditional reporters?

Apple claims they should not. Its lawyers say in court documents that Web scribes are not "legitimate members of the press" when they reveal details about forthcoming products that the company would prefer to keep confidential.

Here, let me translate:

"We liked it a whole lot better when we could wow a handful of journalists with gifts and pre-release briefings. This nonsense of anyone with access to a computer having an opinion has got to stop!"

I may give MS a lot of crap, but at least they aren't out there trying to shove rubber balls down my throat. Let's hear some more of Apple's words of wisdom:

"Unlike the whistleblower who discloses a health, safety or welfare hazard affecting all, or the government employee who reveals mismanagement or worse by our public officials, (the Macintosh news sites) are doing nothing more than feeding the public's insatiable desire for information," Kleinberg wrote at the time.

I'd have something snarky to say here, but I'm too busy giggling. What do these clowns think the media does, if not feed the public's desire for information? The only difference is that there are fewer print people covering Apple, and they feel like they can control them better. They don't like the idea of the "unruly mob" of bloggers expressing opinions.

Hey Steve - I have a message for you: Stuff it. I'm looking forward to buying an intel based Mac, but believe you me - this kind of attitude is going to make me think twice.