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Judge Finds For Apple in ThinkSecret Case
An anonymous reader writes: "In a case with implications for the freedom to blog, a San Jose judge tentatively ruled Thursday that Apple Computer can force three online publishers to surrender the names of confidential sources who disclosed information about the company's upcoming products. The San Jose news piece has the most detail on the ruling while Mac Daily News has some background on the case, and Gizmodo vociferously expresses an opinion on the lawsuit. We've covered the case in the past as well.
I feel a bit ashamed of my Hardware and Software manufacturer of choice. Bad move, Apple.
Exactly. It's like claiming the laws against murder are a blow to the freedom to use a knife.
So, you are implying there's a law against publishing insider information sent to you for that purpose? Silly me, I thought we enjoyed freedom of the press in this country! Send some federal agents over to Bob Woodward's house and have him arrested!
Apple's (legitimate) complaint is that they have employees leaking secret information. They have no right to use the courts to strong-arm the press into identifying the culprits.
Liberal (adj.): Free from bigotry; open to progress; tolerant of others.
Then why is it that Apple is consistently ranked #1, ahead of all other vendors, in customer service and support, and has been for years? I wouldn't call that an "adversarial relationship" with customers. (1,2)
i can risk the karma, so..
Frankly, Apple can get bent. Whats worse - leaking a trade secret, or manufacturing devices which emitted the necessary tones for phreaking - allowing them to access and manipulate the computers which lay behind the telecoms system? Because I seem to recall Jobs and Woz started out on the wrong side of the law. In fact, wasn't Apple saved by a device which, initially at least, took huge advantage of the illegal trade in mp3s? Fair enough, people rip their own CDs, and now we have ITMS, but once upon a time, all that free music can't have harmed iPod sales. Take your goddamn double standards and shove yourself into your own arse Steve. I know you like it up there.
Shame really, i was looking forward to playing with a nice shiny new Mac Mini. guess i'll have to DIY some Nano-ITX toy instead. fair enough.
Apple: Bad, bad, bad... Who gives a flying fuck about your "secrets" when you're going to tell them to the world anyways? It's not like the guy was posting payroll records.
Remember that geeks can make of break you.
I say, it's going to be pretty hard to redeem yourselves after this. Not only am I not buying a mac, or an I-pod, I am not recommending it to anyone, and when people ask me why I'll say: They are not user-friendly.
You may think I am overreacting, but like my wife says: The company has to seduce me _before_ I buy their products. Apple needs to learn how to flirt better.
"Piter, too, is dead."
Some jackass broke his NDA with Apple to leak product details to a site that openly welcomes such news.
Thinksecret isn't journalism, it is a spam filter for Apple rumors. The leak isn't using his free speech rights, he just broke a contract he signed that forbid him to talk about upcoming products.
Why are you sensationalizing something that doesn't deserve it! Think secret is a great rumor website, but it is not journalism.