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Apple Subpoenas, Sues Over Leaks
CNET reports that Apple has been granted the right to subpoena O'Grady's PowerPage, AppleInsider, and Think Secret over leaks of information concerning an unreleased product code named "Asteroid" and "Q97," which has been described as a FireWire audio interface for use with GarageBand. The subpoenas are related to a lawsuit against an unnamed individual who leaked the information.
In trying to identify the identity of worker bee (ex-contractor, Juan Gutierrez), Apple basically had to confirm that there was some truth to the rumors that he was posting--namely the details of a revision to the iBook laptop. Apple eventually did release a laptop whose details matched worker bee's description. In 2001, Apple settled with Gutierrez after he promised to turn over any remaining Apple confidential information and not divulge any further details.
Honestly this seems to be little more than drumming up even more buzz over up-in-coming products. Yeah, they probably were going to keep it a secret for a while longer but now that it's out why not milk it a bit and get the word out?
I have no interest in most of what Apple does or makes. I certainly wouldn't be perusing the three sites mentioned in the lawsuit but what I do peruse are news sites and other non-Apple sites (news.google.com, Slashdot, etc). Would I have heard about this through Slashdot? Perhaps. Would I have heard about the lawsuit through news.google.com AND Slashdot? Yup, in fact, I did.
So, I'm a PC/Windows user. Never surf the Apple rumor sites. I hear about this lawsuit that stems from the leaking of information about a piece of hardware that I can hook my computer up to my instruments and record shit. Sounds cool...
Worth filing some papers and getting someone to promise they will never leak information again? Yeah, I think so.
There really isn't any information contained on those sites that isn't contained in the articles about the suit.
Is Apple going to sue slashdot now for telling us what the lawsuits were about?
Of course all Apple has achieved is validating the rumor.
"Your first time being root is much the same as loosing your virginity only with less humilation."
Not if you manage to combine the right balance of arrogance and incompetence it's not.
this is getting old and so are you
blog
I'd guess it means that people are violating their NDAs. There is nothing rotten with a company protecting thier confifendtail information.
Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
Exactly. A subpoena is just a compulsion of information, it os not a charge or even an accusation of wrongdoing on the part of the person(s) served.
Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
They're suing someone who violated the terms of the NDA. End of story.
how relevant WE think the information is, or how worth hiding/saving/embargoing is irrelevant. There are tons of reasons that a company wants to keep info secret until they're ready for it to be released. They might (legitimately) fear that a competitor could use the info to get the jump on them. Considering how 'cool' people think Apple's stuff is this is likely. Or they may want to maximize the marketing impact of the product update/launch. This is not so insignificant really. As someone who works in marketing, I can say that an "oooh, what's next" buzz can be very helpful, and even valuable bonus when introducing product. To have some employee leak it for nothing more than first posters braggin rights is annoying and they wouldn't have a hard time making the claim that it cost them real money. And if the guy signed an NDA (VERY likely if he's working in product development) then he's screwed. I think the real story here is that they were allowed to subpeona the records of the sites he posted to. One reason why you'll never see me posting stuff that I find out at work (v. big tech/computer firm here).
When will people learn that clock speed is not the same as processing power? Oh. Once you get a fucking clue. Okay, I guess I shouldn't worry about something that will never happen.
This is hardly a stunt lawsuit. The person in question undoubtedly signed an NDA and now he has broken it. Ya there are too many lawsuits going on but you might want to pick which one you whine about next time. On top of that Apple is about as innovative as a Desktop computer company gets, exactly what are you whining about there?
"I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
I can understand them stopping leaks over things like the G5, Color iPod, etc. But a firewire audio interface. Small potatoes.
DAMN YOU OCTODOG! DAMN YOU TO HELL!
Why is it that you people insist on trying to push the notion that Apple only pushes aesthetics... as if theres nothing else like ease of use, faster, smaller, more efficient, quieter etc... The parent post is a thinly veiled troll which trys to imply that Apple is only about flash.... Sigh...
If you're tired of hearing about lawsuits, then just stop reading about them. They're a fact of life and business. You can not run any business any reasonable amount of time without running into them. They aren't an inherently evil or wrong thing, they're just a way of making sure that people do things or don't do things according to contracts and legal precedents and whatnot.
Sure jackasses like SCO are a destructive abuse of the system, but that doesn't mean anytime a company files a lawsuit against someone that they're making the world a worse place.
Your statement about the execs duking it out behind a woodshed doesn't even make sense in the Apple case that the article is about. They've filed a lawsuit against an individual who violated an NDA. You'd rather they send some goons to track him down and beat the snot out of him?
One time I threw a brick at a duck.
Apple Love to keep there products a secret until it can be released in a trade show with all the Ohhs and Ahhhs. This is usually fine for average home user because they are impulse buyers and defiantly don't have a long term IT Strategy in mind. But many corporations do have an IT strategy and many other should get them (but that is an other topic) And by the time Apple releases a new product it is out of date when a company chooses to buy it. I am sure Apple would get better School, Government and Corprate buyers if they wern't so secret about everything. I am not talking about giving every single spec. But information like Flat Screen iMac (can fit in 1/2 square foot of desk space, with G5 Processor expected release Fall 2004, Or New Powermac 2x faster then old model expected release 2005. Information like this can help businesses who want apple have the ability to choose them on time so while they are in development they can make choices to buy it. IBM does it, Sun Does it, Microsoft Does it. Sure you not as surprised when it comes out but you may have already got the pre-orders in.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Sorry MS fanboys, you can't brand Apple evil yet in retaliation for tarnishing the good name of M$, they are doing something they should and have every right to do.
Except they're not suing their own fans. They're suing someone who is likely from inside the company for leaking information. After all, how could any Average Joe find out such detailed information? It's obvious that the person who leaked the device was someone inside Apple, and anyone with that kind of access would have signed an NDA. It's simple breach of contract. They're merely serving subpoenas to rumor sites in order to get information on who the person might be. They're not suing any sites, just compelling them to release information about who the person might be. An employee becomes a real liability to the company when they start leaking pre-released device specifications to Internet sites, and who knows that he/she won't do it again with a bigger product?
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From my point of view I hope they find out who did it. Apple pays our company alot of money for our work, and part of that higher price is the reasonable assumption that we will not "leak" their products. And in the grand scheme of things the rest of the world knowing about whatver the next Apple Thing-a-ma-bob (TM) is or keeping my job there is no contest.
If you are one in a million, then there are six thousand people who are just like you.
So anybody who doesn't operate in the way you think they should is closed minded? I wonder who has the closed mind here...
Yeah! The NDA the perpetrator signed? Pointless! Why enforce contracts?
Hell, this idea is so compelling I think I'll stop paying my mortgage! Contracts mean nothing! Yeeehaw!
Subpoenas of source information at all levels of the journalistic hierarchy are causing trouble, lately. Even the New York Times has a couple of reporters in jail for not revealing their sources for stories on the Plame affair (remember, when one of the crooks in the White House illegally outed a deep-cover CIA agent in retribution for whistleblowing by her husband...).
It'll be interesting to see whether OPP, AI, and TS will stand their ground as firmly as the NYT did, or whether they roll over for the courts.