Mac mini ’secrets’ author named
p2pnet.net News:- As the world now knows, Apple Computer is suing Think Secret publisher Nick dePlume over an article that correctly revealed Steve & Co were about to launch a cheapo G4 Mac.
Nick dePlume is, well, the nom de plume of Nick Ciarelli, 19, who’s been running Think Secret since he was 13, says Joseph M. Tartakoff in Harvard’s online Crimson pub.
Ciarelli is studying at Harvard. He’s also a Crimson editor.
Apple claims Ciarelli and his The dePlume Organization broke the law, “when soliciting insider tips online from anonymous sources, ‘inducing’ Apple employees to break their confidentiality agreements with the company,” says Tartakoff, going on:
“The suit does not identify Ciarelli by name, saying dePlume’s ‘true name and identity’ could not be confirmed. But a Nov. 11 letter Apple sent to Think Secret ordering the site to stop publishing trade secrets included Ciarelli’s name as publisher and editor-in-chief of Think Secret.”
Ciarelli wrote in an email, “I employ the same legal newsgathering practices used by any other journalist. I talk to sources of information, investigate tips, follow up on leads, and corroborate details. I believe these practices are reflected in Think Secret’s track record.”
The site, for example, broke the news that Apple would release a digital music player one week before Apple released its first iPod in 2001.
According to the complaint, Apple employees sign confidentiality agreements in which they promise not to disclose information about product plans to anyone outside of the company, .
“Defendants’ knowing misappropriation and disclosure of Apple’s trade secrets constitutes a violation of California law and has caused irreparable harm to Apple,” the lawsuit states. But several experts said Apple might have alternative motives for suing the site, continues the Crimson story.
Ciarelli is an Apple enthusiast and, “Usually you would want to sue your enemies and not your friends,” Tartakoff quotes Gary Fine, a Northwestern professor of sociology and expert on rumors, as saying.
“I can’t think of an instance in which a corporation would sue its own fans. I haven’t heard anything like this.”
Fine said it was possible Apple was suing Think Secret to generate publicity, the Crimson post states. “The lawsuit came the week before Apple’s biannual exposition where it released its latest products.”
If he’s correct, Apple would have to be lower than Physeter macrocephalus excreta. But that’s a distinct possibility.
After all, we’re talking about a company which happily entered into a scummy promotional campaign with Pepsi and the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) to promote iTunes and, through it, iPod.
We’re referring to the 2004 Sleeze Bowl tv ad in which 16 teenaged RIAA victims accused, but never convicted, of sharing music online were used in a campaign so blackly cynical that it beggars the imagination.
“If [the lawsuit] gets everyone’s attention, that’s all for the good of the company. Maybe there is a quiet understanding that they’ll get media attention and [then] quietly drop the lawsuit,” Fine said.
Ciarelli says that’s not the case and according to the Tartakoff report, denies colluding with Apple and is refusing to disclose information about his sources.
“In my view, it is crucial that a reporter have the ability to maintain the confidentiality of his or her sources. And I think the public realizes this, since the news has been filled lately with instances of journalists being forced to reveal confidential sources,” Ciarelli, says the Crimson report, adding:
“According to California Superior Court records, a case management conference will be held on May 3.”
(Thanks, Morg)
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See:-
correctly revealed – Apple Sues Student, Harvard Crimson, January 12, 2005
Apple enthusiast – The Apple mini: rave on, p2pnet. January 14, 2005
blackly cynical – Pepsi-iTunes Super Bowl ad blasted, p2pnet, January 31, 2004
