Random Access 3.0

Apple recently won the first round of lawsuits to 'force' (articles word, not mine) these sites to reveal their sources.

Now according to Think Secret they're just reporting the facts ma'am and are protected by the first amendment.

I'm a huge fan of the first amendment. I think any idiot or autistic child should be allowed to stand up and say what they want to about any given subject.

Brian Believes Apple is acting the following:

• John Edwards: But, I'm a psychic.
• Stan: No, dude. You're a douche.
• John Edwards: I'm not a douche. What if I really believed dead people talk to me?
• Stan: Then, you're a stupid douche.

Sure, maybe once they figured out that the guy running Think Secret was a 19 year old college student they should have given him an Xbox like Mikerowesoft, er Microsoft did when they ran afoul of the media because of pursuing their trademark but at the same time I really don't agree that they should have unfettered rights to published known trade secrets that they've acquired via 'anonymous methods' when said trade secrets affect the profits and stock price of the company.

The recent press alone have gotten Forbes to wonder aloud if 'Apple is the new Microsoft' regarding both this incident, and a couple of college kids getting stupid and posting a bittorrent of the upcoming release of Mac OS X online.

Brian's main point is no one should go to jail for it. My point is there has to be some recourse for a company to take action on this, and at least one other person agrees with me.

While I love the rumor sites (as Brian eloquently pointed out during our discussion) they should be just that, rumors. Not leaked NDA information provided by Apple employees or contractors.

Maybe I have a different viewpoint because in my job I have daily access to highly confidential roadmap information from various chip manufacturers, memory technology that isn't discussed or known of, hard drive details, tape roadmaps, etc. All sorts of stuff and I have to fight a daily battle with both myself, and my employees who just want to give it out to everyone to make a sale. So I'm coming down on Apple's side on this. not because I love their stuff, but because I think they have a right to find out who's giving out their info and hurting their bottom line. Should the kid or anyone go to jail over it? No. But if that is what our legal system offers as a remedy, then that's all they have to use.

Telling them to do it again isn't going to fix anything when there is no repercussion for doing it the first time. Just like disciplining kids. You tell em 'no no' and ignore it, they're gonna do something bad/get hurt. You have to apply some form of repercussion for it. Since Apple can't take away his toys, they have to use what is offered too them by the courts, and usually that is jail time for contempt which is what will happen if they don't cough up a source.