EFF appeals Apple decision
p2pnet.net Special:- The EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) has filed an appeal in the case where Apple Computer and Steve P. Jobs are trying to undermine freedom of speech in the US for purely commercial considerations.
Last week Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge James Kleinberg ruled an online journalist’s ISP can be forced to reveal the identities of confidential sources to Apple, rejecting the EFF’s request for an order to protect the identities of sources for the online news sites AppleInsider and PowerPage.
It’s the first case where it’s argued that online reporters’ confidential sources and unpublished materials are protected by both the reporter’s shield in the California constitution, and the reporter’s privilege under the federal First Amendment.
But Kleinberg decided journalists could be compelled to reveal confidential sources where claims that trade secrets have been broken are made.
But the US First Amendment can’t be so easily waived, says the EFF, going on:
“Many important news leaks, such as those revealing the dangers of cigarette smoking, can be claimed to be trade secrets by the companies seeking to stop them. Apple must also demonstrate that it has done an exhaustive search elsewhere for the information it seeks before targeting journalists with court orders. There is no evidence that Apple has done such an exhaustive search.”
The case is the result of Apple suing unnamed people said to have leaked information about an upcoming product code-named "Asteroid."
Apple subpoenaed Nfox, the ISP for PowerPage.com publisher Jason O’Grady, demanding that the ISP turn over the communications and unpublished materials O’Grady obtained while he was gathering information for his articles about "Asteroid."
Apple is also trying to sue Think Secret’s Nick Ciarelli who’s filed a special motion under the California Anti-SLAPP Statute designed to, “stem meritless lawsuits that attempt to chill valid constitutional exercises of freedom of speech,” he says.
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See:-
Electronic Frontier Foundation – EFF Appeals Ruling in Apple Case, March 22, 2005
commercial considerations – Apple vs Freedom of the Press, p2pnet. March 21, 2005
Nick Ciarelli – Think Secret SLAPPs Apple, p2pnet. March 10, 2005
