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Apple to Settle with Tiger Leaker Vivek Sambhara
AC writes "According to DrunkenBlog which has the court papers, Apple will settle their case against Sunny (Vivek Sambhara) who was accused of taking a developer release of Tiger and putting it on a torrent site. Sunny was the student who gave an interview, and had Steve Wozniak donate to his defense. It is noted in the article that there is still a named defendant going to court and "a score of jon does"."
The article has this overwhelming tone of "thank god the poor kid was saved" and "this could happen to anyone", but I don't think it could. I certainly don't agree with how Apple handled the situation, but in my opinion this guy should have had more sense. I think taking a pre-release from an early access developer program and creating a torrent for it should set off alarm bells in anyones head. I have a hard time believing he didn't understand the possible repercussions of his actions in this case.
This leaves no bad taste in my mouth - Apple acted correctly from the start. Sunny broke a legal and binding contract, unlike the people sued by the RIAA who had no contractual agreement.
The rule about not suing poor people is oft quoted. I have heard it used by more than one poor student I know as a justification for any action they care to take. They figure that there are no consequences to their actions. This lawsuit is a consequence with a capital C. Frankly, if this convinces students that their actions might just have consequences, then it was worth the trouble.
Look, if you screw up, you have the chance of really, really suffering far out of proportion to the harm you intended. You may not - Sunny did not in this case - but you most certainly can. That is a valuable lesson, and it appears that it was learned.
Had Sunny driven drunk, he might have faced felony criminal prosecution, jail time, and a lot of problems in future life, even if he did not hurt anyone. One extra drink at a bar, and a misjudgment about your own impairment, and your life takes a sudden, dramatic, explosive downward turn. Sunny had a misjudgment that took about the same amount of time, and harmed about as many people as getting caught in a holiday sobriety test. He suffered worry, but his life was not ruined, he did not get jail time, and he did not have to give up his future. That was quite a win for him, and I suspect he, and a lot of other people, are going to be more careful in the future.
What separates this from the RIAA lawsuits, in my mind, is one simple crystal clear fact - he agreed to a legal binding contract. He agreed to not distribute the information, and then he broke the contract. This is serious stuff.
If nothing else, such leaks make Apple less likely to distribute proprietary information in the future. I need that information, and I want companies to trust in their NDAs, as otherwise, they will not tell me what I need to know to plan my future products. So, I do want people to take an NDA seriously, just like I want people to take all contracts they sign seriously. You may choose to break one, but for goodness sake, understand the potential consequences.
I wouldn't use eastgame if I were you. Eastgame is being tracked by the Hong Kong Police and Customs, because it is a very popular site here. Gamesir is too.
Apple would be stupid to let the issue go completely and Sunny was clearly in the wrong. Apple got an admission of guilt and any of their property he still had, and he got off with a slap on the wrist. Considering the situation, it looks like it turned out relatively good for everyone. Pushing it further would only bring more negative press to Apple and what's the point of getting a big court judgment against a college student?
Dammit Jon Doe, you can't stay out of trouble can you?
I don't actually intend to download it, since I am loath to trust a random internet source for my OS, but the question of legality is still interesting.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
According to the PDF linked from TFA, a judgment was entered in favor of Apple. Sunny was permanently barred from possessing, controlling, copying, sharing, etc, any information or property belonging to Apple, and he had to return all information gained via his ADC account. BTW, the limitations do not apply to any Apple hardware or software purchased in a retail setting, so this doesn't limit him from remaining a Mac fanboy. It just means that he can't be in the early adopter club. It also means that he didn't have to pay anything, which is a big win for Sunny.
In many of the posts on this story, I see quite a bit of "Apple should have sued his pants off", "Sunny was an idiot", "He's and adult and should pay for his actions", etc. In this day and age, we seem to have gotten used to beating up people for making mistakes under the idea that they should have "known better". We all have done things in our past that seemed justifiable or logical at the time, but later we realize it wasn't a wise thing to do.
Did Sunny do something illegal? Yes.
Should he have take the time to read the agreement he agreed to when he signed up for the ADC account? Yes.
Should he have posted it to a p2p network? No.
Did he admit that he had made a mistake? Yes.
Has he learned from this mistake? Yes.
Apple chose to go easy on him, not just to prevent bad PR, but also to show that they are willing to forgive their customers for making mistakes. Even Steve Jobs isn't perfect and has made mistakes (remember NeXT?). Perhaps we all need to be more forgiving the next time someone makes a mistake against us. You'll find that most people won't make the mistake again.
If "disco" means "I learn" in Latin, does "discothèque" mean "I learn technology"?