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Triple Breasted Lesbian Cyborgs Crash Co-Ed Nudist Party |
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 If you are reading this then you probably have your hopes up. Way up. Some other things might be up too but that is none of my damn business. Anyway, you have read the headline thinking you are going to get a juicy story about lesbian cyborgs. Alas, there are no cyborgs. Or co-eds. And unfortunately no one gets naked and everyone has the normal number of breasts. I know it was cruel of me to get your hopes up like that but I thought it to be the best way to draw your attention to this article. And since you are here and have read this much you mind as well finish the story. Who knows, there might be some cyborgs in here somewhere. . .
If you have been paying attention to the world of Mac news then undoubtedly you have heard of Apple suing the college student who runs ThinkSecret.com (a Mac rumor site). Many people have become rather irate over this. But, if you haven't heard of the story yet let me boil it down for you.
ThinkSecret published trade secrets concerning Apple's new stuff before Apple released it. This pissed Apple off mightily and they sued.
Ok, back to where we are now. I have read many stories concerning this issue and many people seem to want to make this into a 1st Amendment/journalist's rights/fight-the-power kind of thing. Which is all well and good for entertainment purposes, but misses the point entirely.
This case is not about the 1st Amendment. In fact, it really doesn't have anything remotely to do with it. Likewise he is not being singled out because he is a student/running a webiste/not a part of the mainstream media, whatever. He is being sued (and rightly so) because he knowingly published trade secrets online. And that is illegal.
Think about it this way, you own a pawn shop. A guy walks in with blood on his shirt and proceeds to talk to you while he wipes his knife clean. He tells you that he has a very nice gold watch and some jewelry that he would like to pawn. In fact, as you look at it you see that it is worth several thousand dollars. Given the state of the man's appearance you find it unlikely that can afford these things himself. Additionally, before he walked in you heard on the news about a double homicide 3 blocks away. Nonetheless you buy the jewelry from him without looking at his id and wish him a goodnight. Two days later the police arrest you. You claim that you are an honest business man who did nothing wrong. You didn't "know" that that guy had killed those people and that the jewelry was stolen. You claim to be completely ignorant of any wrong doing that may have occurred.
Guess what? You are going to jail.
Now, back to what we were talking about. This college student did essentially the same thing. He took the jewelry (trade secrets) without looking at any ID and proceeded to put them in his shop (thinksecret.com) and when the police (and Apple) come looking for him he claims that he did nothing wrong. Goodbye pawn shop, hello jail!
NEWS FLASH! If you are working at Apple, and I don't care if you scrub toliets or optimize compilers, you have signed a non-disclosure agreement. And if you break that agreement then Apple has the right to prosecute you. So, if you are running a Mac news site and someone tries to give you confidential information then you KNOW that they are breaking their ND contract. You then KNOW that they are doing something illegal. You KNOW the jewelry is stolen and you KNOW that you are doing something wrong, thus you shouldn't really be surprised when you get sued.
If you still aren't convinced ask yourself this, "Why hasn't CNN published a story like this?" Do you think that they don't have sources in the tech community? Do you think they couldn't afford to pay a few sources? Do you think they don't have good enough writers? Do you think they have more scruples than online news sites?
No, no, no and hell no. But they do have lawyers. People who tell them important things like: "You know, if you post this shit you are going to your asses sued"
Now they can publish trade secrets if its a danger to the public. I.E. toxic waste being dumped in rivers, new drugs that cause blindness, unsafe tires etc. But they can't publish trade secrets just because it would make a good story.
So, to wrap this up, try not to get to angry when you hear about this. The kid got what he deserves and I think Apple should prosecute him to the full extent of the law. If they don't he will be back next month saying "Hey, anybody want to buy a watch? Or how about a cyborg?"
~JS |
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March 30 2005, 8:23 AM EDT, by |
Comments:
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| aslaw |
3/30/05, 9:13 AM EDT |
Your analysis is the most insightful discussion of the issue I've seen.
Although the Apple Community is intensely interested in everything that might be going on inside Cupertino, there is no danger posed to the general public by withholding publication of the Corporation's private business, and the person whose public persona is to whisper, "Guess what!?!" behind his hand, had every reason to know that what he was doing was wrong. That he might be young and inexperienced is beside the point.
It's easy to make everything a "First Amendment" issue, but the Constitution doesn't give one the right to say anything anyone wants, anywhere, any time. That's just not legally correct.
Good piece!
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| AC |
3/30/05, 11:19 AM EDT |
haha, this has has to be the best article on the issue I've read, 10 points for you, and 10 more points because I'm in a good mood.
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| Jonahan |
3/30/05, 11:51 AM EDT |
This title reminds me of the triple-breasted whore of Eroticon 6. If you haven't read HHG2G, you need to.
:-)
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| jstoup |
3/30/05, 12:47 PM EDT |
Jonahan
42
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| Jonahan |
3/30/05, 1:50 PM EDT |
Word - It's the answer!!! To the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything! :)
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| nhmacusr |
3/30/05, 1:52 PM EDT |
Great summing up of the facts. The only thing I saw is that he hasn't actually been sued. Apple has named 20 John Does in their suit. Think Secret and Power Page have been subpoenaed to reveal their sources. They have not actually been named in the suit (as of yet). The press has blown this way out of proportion every step of the way.
Your analogy of the pawn shop is right on and that is how the court is looking at the issue. When the informant gave the presentation to Power Page, it became Apple stolen property.
Bravo on the article.
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| fuzzmanmatt |
3/30/05, 2:22 PM EDT |
Obviously Apple has something big up it's sleeve, and wants the names of who is leaking what before something major gets out. I would like to know who's leaking what into my backyard, because eventually they're going to leak it into the front yard too.
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| schizzylogic |
3/30/05, 5:00 PM EDT |
FINALLY! An excellent write-up on the actual issue at hand.
Why is it so hard for so many people to understand that?
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| Ains. |
3/30/05, 10:09 PM EDT |
Great piece! Puntos for jstoup!
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