A superior court judge in the US has indicated that bloggers should not be afforded the same protections and rights as journalists.

Judge James Kleinberg made a preliminary ruling on Friday recommending that bloggers should reveal the source of stories on new Apple Mac products.

Apple is notoriously secretive about its new products and has issued lawsuits against several sites that leaked details ahead of official launches including Think Secret, PowerPage and AppleInsider.

Online campaign group the Electronic Frontier Foundation is providing legal support for some of the sites being sued by Apple, and believes that online and independent journalists and bloggers should be afforded the same rights as mainstream news organisations.

Judge Kleinberg is expected to release his final written decision this week.

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