A story from The Associated Press reports that on Friday, a state appeals court rejected Apple’s attempt to identify Web sites and bloggers who leaded product information, saying the these writers are entitled to the same protections and traditional journalists. “The online journalists are thus entitled to the protections provided under California’s shield law as well as the privacy protections for e-mails allowed under federal law, the court ruled,” notes the story. “Two years ago, Apple went to court seeking to identify the culprits behind the leak of confidential information about an unreleased product code-named as ‘Asteroid’ to online media outlets.