p2pnet - rss feed: Apple vs Freedom of the Press
p2pnet.net News:- “In the fall of 1981, Paul Freiberger, a reporter for the weekly computer industry newspaper InfoWorld, was preparing to run a story that Apple Computer was engaged in two secret development projects,” writes John Markoff in the New York Times.
“But first, he listened as company co-founder Steven P. Jobs shouted at him over the phone that revealing the code names of products would offer a crucial advantage to the computer maker’s Japanese competitors.
“In the end, the paper got its scoop - Apple’s new projects were called the Lisa and the Macintosh - and the company still managed to handily trounce its competitors.”
Fast forward to 2005.
PowerPage, AppleInsider and Think Secrets reveal information about product releases before Steven P. Jobs wants it revealed.
In on- and offline reporting, this happens all the time. It always has, and it always will. Writers ferret out ‘secret’ information and publish it. It’s part of what they do.
Still revealing ’secrets’
But in 2005, Steven P. has stopped shouting. Now he’s screaming, using the law to try to force the sites’ owners into saying where their confidential information came from, and who supplied it.
Lawsuits notwithstanding, “AppleInsider.com this week said Apple was developing a two-button mouse and an iTunes subscription service,” says InformationWeek.
“Think Secret this week said Apple had made a $3.6 million offer to acquire HipSolve Media, which makes E-commerce software that lets content owners distribute and sell music files online.”
Both stories are based on info from anonymous sources.
Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge James Kleinberg has ruled PowerPage and AppleInsider must name their confidential sources to Apple. His decision is under appeal and the re-match is slated for April 12 with the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) representing the sites.
Think Secret’s Nick Ciarelli is represented by Terry Gross who recently SLAPPed Apple saying its lawsuit is an, “affront to the First Amendment, and an attempt to use Apple’s economic power to intimidate small journalists“. The special motion was lodged under the California Anti-SLAPP Statute designed to, “stem meritless lawsuits that attempt to chill valid constitutional exercises of freedom of speech,” says Ciarelli’s filing.
“If a publication such as the New York Times had published such information, it would be called good journalism; Apple never would have considered a lawsuit.”
Oh! One more thing …
Jobs is in the fashion business, The New York Times quotes ex-Apple executive Randy Komisar as saying. “He has to have a new hit every quarter or he goes out of business. The speculation is worth tens of millions of dollars of public relations.”
But, “nobody expects Mr. Jobs’s marketing machine to unravel any time soon,” adds the NYT.
“Indeed, the MacWorld exhibitions held in San Francisco in January remain a highly anticipated event for the Macintosh faithful, where as many as 5,000 fans engage in an annual ritual of adulation for the computer maker and its co-founder.
“Mystery, anticipation and surprise all lie at the heart of the events, and Mr. Jobs will occasionally tease his audience, pretending to walk off stage, before returning and saying, ‘Oh! One more thing …’ and then unveiling some new product.”
Gross calls the case unprecedented. “They’re suing a journalist and trying to hold him liable in damages for trade-secret misappropriation,” InformationWeek has him saying,
“They’re trying to say [that] for reporting the news, you could be liable for millions of dollars.”
Forget the money, however, because what’s happening is: PowerPage, AppleInsider and Think Secrets have in effect picked up the cudgel on behalf of US writers everywhere, online and off.
Because if Apple wins its case to compel the sites to unveil their confidential sources, God alone knows where it’ll end.
Something you think we should know? tips[at]p2pnet.net
<-----Computers make very fast, very accurate mistakes---->
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See:-
New York Times - To Cut Online Chatter, Apple Goes to Court, March 21, 2005
InformationWeek - Latest Online Scoops Thwart Apple’s Bid For Secrecy, March 18, 2005
confidential sources - Judge rules for Apple in ID case, p2pnet, March 11, 2005
intimidate small journalists - Think Secret SLAPPs Apple, p2pnet, March 11, 2005
