Commentary on Apple vs. Think Secret [MacSlash]

6:10:08 PM  What do you think? ( Thoughts) Who linked? []   

Apple goes to the source. CNET News.com's Declan McCullagh examines the implications of a court battle pitting Apple against a handful of bloggers. [CNET News.com]

This is typical of the nonsense that is being published about the subject. Notice how all the examples are government related. The Watergate example is particularly telling. In that case a crime was committed and the press was reporting using a anonymous source. There was independent confirmation and all the journalism standards were followed. There wasn't a single legal secret being revealed in that case. In this case the crime was committed by the source so revealing his/her name will catch a criminal. This is an important distinction. Reading the court transcript one also notices that the issue there isn't that they aren't journalist because they write online, but rather they aren't journalist, because they weren't acting like one. One of the claims of Apple's attorney is that the sites were repeating verbatim the info that they got from the source. How do they know? All the sites have the same wording.
Update: A friend chimes through email, saying that there is a constant argument in this type of article that if a major newspaper had publish information protected by an Apple NDA, Apple wouldn't have sue them. It is true that newspaper have more protection (and more money!), but the reality is that they do not publish this type of information. That is why the examples come from government corruption and things like that, because that's when newspaper decide to risk it. Not to out a new product by a company, but to bring down a president that committed illegal acts.
10:35:30 AM  What do you think? ( Thoughts) Who linked? []   

Shakeup at Sony Puts Westerner in Leader's Role. In a rare move for a Japanese company, Sony has named Sir Howard Stringer, a Welshman, its chairman and chief executive. By By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN and SAUL HANSELL. [NYT > Home Page]

Being from the entertainment division I don't imagine he is the one who will save Sony. The guys doing the creative engineering got pushed back again at Sony. Yes, the entertainment division produces the most earnings, but the electronics division produces most of the revenue, it's what makes Sony big, despite the incredible amount of missteps that have occurred in the last few years.

8:26:37 AM  What do you think? ( Thoughts) Who linked? []