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US Spy Agencies See Bloggers as Journalists
Sniper223 writes with a link to ABC's Blotter blog. That site observes that at least in the realm of US intelligence gathering, the 'are bloggers journalists' question is already decided. "Despite the rap that bloggers simply 'bloviate' and 'don't try to find things out,' as conservative newspaper columnist Robert Novak once sniffed, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security Agency (NSA) have altered policies to indicate they're taking blogs seriously, and a growing number of public offices are actively reaching out to the blogosphere. The CIA recently updated its policies on Freedom of Information Act requests to allow bloggers to qualify for special treatment once reserved for old-school reporters. And last August, the NSA issued a directive to its employees to report leaks of classified information to the media — "including blogs," the order said."
... for this is something along the lines of: "Hey, if we recognise them as journalists, and give them equal access, maybe they'll regurgitate the same junk we feed the mass media."
Please excuse my cynicism of an organisation (i.e. the CIA) that relies on disinformation, propaganda, and psychological warfare, and uses the mass media and journalists to spread it.
'If Christ had tweeted the sermon on the mount, it might have lasted until nightfall.' - John Perry Barlow
Other countries might have similar laws. However, probably only running a 'blog counts (arguably even MySpace) because that's like having a regular newpaper column. You could probably argue successfully that posting to a 'blog is nothing more than a letter-to-the-editor which doesn't make anyone a journalist. But if the posts get too regular and come to be expected (localroger on K5) then you might be considered a journalist.
Who's using Tor?
Oh you mean the person using a machine with it's NIC's MAC address set to some arbitrary value and connected via an unsecure wireless access point not under his control? As intimated by the post you're replying to?
When the MIB are knocking on John Q. Lawabide's front door with rubber-gloves donned and electric truth-probes brandished, the real ne'er-do-well will have rolled further down the road, changed his MAC address and hijacked Sally P. Honestface's wireless access point.
The example you refer to is at a University, where the professor was likely connected either from his office, or from a laptop with a MAC address that the IT staff knew (I suspect wireless access is controlled by MAC address at universities). Secondly, his first hop was therefore within the university's network, under their control, and being monitored for suspicious activity/heavy usage.