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EFF Joins Fight Against Apple Lawsuit
sutterpants writes "The BBC is carrying a story on the legal battle between Apple and free press advocates. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has joined in the fight to protect journalists from revealing their sources. Which carries more weight: the right of Apple to protect their trade secrets or the rights of journalists to protect their sources?"
I do not believe in petty lawsuits over cigarettes that kill or McDonald's coffee that was too hot when spilt into the lap while driving. What I do believe in is accountability for one's action and that is where the issue truly lies.
Journalists live and die by the "tips" they get.
The question is the "harm" they can cause by releasing the information.
If a journalist gets a tip that the police are looking for a suspect, releases said tip, and the suspect evades capture by getting the heads up, then the Journalist has, wittingly or not, obstructed justice.
In this instance, wittingly or not, the journalist has revealed trade secrets.
Another example? How about embedded reporters disclosing their whereabouts while in a military operation overseas (hypotethically, of course this would never happen). They endanger the lives of service men and women as well as the operation, but don't even need a source - they (or their GPS) are the source.
Being a "journalist" doesn't give one free reign to break laws.
My vote is that those who disclose confidential (NDA protected) information to a Journalist are breaking the law (civil law vs. criminal law - can be fined but not incarcerated) and the Journalist can choose to use that information if they are willing to also stand before a civil court for their actions.
If they did not know the information was priviledged, then they can just turn over the source, and have that source answer for their actions.
I only came here to do two things; kick some ass, and drink some beer...looks like we're almost out of beer.
Pajamahadeen "working" for some obscure web site?
White House plant in the Press Corps?
Unemployed Columbia J-School graduate?
MSNBC Web Jockey given too much control over content?
Me, You, here, "blogging" our opinions on an extremely popular web site?
Senile "anchor" person who looked sexy twenty years ago and hasn't written a news story in his/her life?
A perky Fox News Info-Babe?
An ex-SNL comedy writer hosting a radio show on an avowedly anti-right wing network?
The producer/writer for the ex-comedy writer's show?
Jon Stewart? Jon Stewart's producer?
Jayson Blair?
The guys who covered up for Jayson Blair?
Rush Limbaugh (currently billing himself as "America's Anchorman")?
The diligent, dutiful Editor-in-Chief of the local High School Newspaper?
Some guy from Al-Jazeera whose cousin is in Gitmo?
Armed Forces Radio?
It's 2005. "Journalism" means everything and everything. Define "journalist" for me and I'll tell ya whether his sources should be protected, laughed at, or locked up...
So do you, or do you not, fundamentally agree with the Uniform Trade Secrets Act, which "prevents third parties from exposing information knowingly obtained from sources bound by confidentiality agreements"?
Also, what constitutes a "journalist"? Anyone who has a web site? How is that defined? And yes, this is a serious question.
Would some kind lawyerly type please define what a "trade secret" is? To me, this seems kind of odd in that it was simply some marketing info on a new product that someone was tipped off on, not an internal process to produce something that Apple didn't want seeing the light of day.
What's the deal? I've seen "secret" photos and whatnot of covered cars on tracks before they come out.. seems that in other cases the manufacturer just keeps a tighter lid on it.
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