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Is Gawker's "Apple Tablet Scavenger Hunt" Illegal?
theodp writes "Not too surprisingly, Apple was not amused by Valleywag's announcement of an Apple Tablet Scavenger Hunt, which offered cash prizes ranging from 10K-100K for info about the much-anticipated new Apple device. The promo prompted a threatening cease-and-desist letter from Apple's lawyers, which Valleywag deemed the most concrete evidence yet that there may indeed be a tablet in the works. But is the Scavenger Hunt really illegal, as the attorney claimed? The jury's still out, but Slate concludes Apple's got a pretty good case, although it notes that Valleywag's unconventional Scavenger Hunt 'stunt' may not really be all that different from 'reporting' practiced by mainstream publications like the WSJ."
I for one am sick of hearing about the apple tablet... either come out with it or dont but stop the crap
The whole idea behind this question is to show that offering to pay someone to do something illegal is, in itself, illegal. Now are they asking someone to do something illegal? That is another question. In order to deliver the information they seek, is the party required to do something illegal? Surely it may be something where a civil law suit may result, but is such law limited to criminal acts?
"Ben Sheffner is an attorney at NBC Universal"
Which explains the bias I detected in the article. I repeatedly found the examples he used to support Apple's hypothetical "case" to be missing key details.
That's not to say Apple doesn't have a case (I have no idea really) but I'm always suspicious of people who intentionally omit important details.
So in your world, telling someone about a company's products is the same as murder?
Um, no. GP said nothing of the sort. GP in fact said nothing about the severity of the crime. If you want to make a real comparison, ask yourself if hiring someone to murder is illegal, as murder is illegal.
Or you could baselessly insult a commenter that didn't even attempt to make factual statements, and in fact is clearly just raising questions.
Now are they asking someone to do something illegal?
Such as?
Last time I checked, telling people about a company's product isn't illegal.
Now, they may *possibly* be asking people to break and NDA, but that would be a civil matter, not a criminal one, and therefore it wouldn't be illegal.
You seem to have missed the question mark, noting that GP was asking a question not making a statement of fact.
On topic, to me this seems a bit grey. Obtaining information about Apple's tablet is not illegal in and of itself - There are certainly ways to obtain the information that are illegal, but it is not clear that there are no ways to do so legally.
I think they don't encourage, they advise.
If you read between the lines, it seems like they encourage doing the opposite of what they advise...
If this scavenger hunt is illegal, it would also be illegal for me to offer $10k to anyone who brings me the top-secret Microsoft Phone. For it to be illegal, Apple has to admit that there are specific NDAs stopping their employees from saying anything about their tablet. Without official confirmation of a specific NDA, there's no reason this should be illegal. I don't know that there could be NDAs for the Microsoft Phone, so why should it be illegal to offer a reward for it?
This may be a bit off topic - but don't people have better things to do? I, for one, will likely come across one of the many news stories that are sure to be published if/when Apple releases this thing. At that point, I will read the story, read reviews, visit Apple's web site, and determine if this device is something I would like to purchase.
Until then, I'm going to go do other things.
Why, no, I haven't meta-moderated lately. Thanks for asking!
Its not illegal to take a picture of Steve Jobs stuck in traffic and deciding to fire up his iTablet to pass the time.
Nothing in the original offer (see 1st link in story) said that someone had to break in, or break a NDA or any such.
Opening a trade secret is also not against the law once the trade secret somehow leaves the private offices of the holder. You can't hire buglers, but you can hire long-lens photographers.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
If the contest were to get images of the tablet in public, it too would be legal. But when would that happen? Realistically, never.
Cars however to be well tested, have to be driven on real roads - and so are out in public often enough that people can get perfectly legal spy shots (though the cars usually have some kind of misleading or obscuring trim).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
It seems to me that Apple's legal threat is tacit admission that the iTablet (or whatever such a product would be called) exists. I mean, how can you sue for inducing someone to violate the trade secret that a particular product does not exist? Is that even a trade secret?
This is a clause from Gawkers contest rules:
By submitting any photo or information to Gawker Media, you hereby represent and warrant that the submitted photo or information does not and shall not infringe on any copyright, any rights of privacy or publicity of any person, or any other right of any third party, and you have the right to grant any and all rights and licenses granted to Gawker Media herein, including but not limited to all necessary rights under copyright, free and clear of any claims or encumbrances;
That makes it pretty clear that they don't expect people to share information illegally.
I guess everyone involved gets some publicity though.
No, it doesn't. The disclaimer only covers copyright violations. There are plenty of laws you can break besides copyright law.
I'd hate to work for a company that was always threatening me. I feel bad for the people who work there... what a miserable way to live.
I'm unaware of any company which openly allows their employees to disclose trade secrets, with nary a threat of termination or disciplinary action.
Which is going to garner you the most hype from the Tech news media?
A) Hinting that you may have a tablet in the pipeline
or
B) Having one of your PR folks get a site to start a scavenger hunt for info and then have lawyer threaten said site over the hunt.
People drilled Apple for not having feature x, y and z. Now after several OS updates and all the features added, people still drill Apple for not having them from day one!
Sorry but the iPhone is the better smartphone. Don't take my word for it, but Nokia's.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-10423779-17.html
http://www.electronista.com/articles/10/01/04/nokia.claims.new.hardware.and.services.key/
http://www.techmeme.com/100104/p17
The question is, in 2011 will they match where Apple is now, or where Apple will be then?
GENERATION 25: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation.