Apple kills Think Secret
APPLE has succeeded in killing off the news bog Think Secret by terrifying the owner with an expensive court case.
The famously secretive fruit-themed outfit has a tremendous difficulty with Think Secret which had a nasty habit of running stories that Apple did not want published.
In fact, Apple was so terrified of Think Secret that it spent a small fortune on lawyers to try and force the magazine to reveal its sources.
Jobs' Mob realised that a one-man-band like Think Secret could not swim in the sea of writs that the company hand planned.
The magazine copped a deal with the Cappuccino outfit in which it managed to keep its sources secret but would shut down.
Nick Ciarelli who ran the outfit, said that he is happy to be out of it and is able to concentrate on his college studies.
Being a student, Ciarelli could probably not have afforded to get the case to court. Since it has been successful, Apple might try to shut down other blogs who publish accurate things that it does not want talked about.
This is a pity, because such blogs exist because Apple does not tell anyone anything and the Mac press is happy to print what ever Steve Jobs tells it. µ
Share this:
Business Intelligence Software
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Enterprise Accounting Software
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
Enterprise Systems Management
Yup we got freedom of speech but only if you can afford to have that freedom The cost of justice in the US is so bloody hight, its makes you laugh. Major corporations will ALWAYS stifle speech by threat of litigation , right or wrong they win by default, they have more money
I know there's no such thing as bad press, but still, owch. How much will Apple have to leave out of its official story when asked to spin this...?
i hope apple is succesfull in shutting down every single news outlet that publishes anything about apple. would be a hoot!
Have a L'inq. http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=intellectual_property_and_drm&articleId=9053798&taxonomyId=144&intsrc=kc_top
Since you're so brave and not afraid of Fruitzilla, why not hire Nick and offer him protection of his sources? Looks like you guys are covered by a corporation that would have enough strength to chew Fruitzilla and their fanboi army too...
Someone should have bothered to read up on the case. The problem Apple had with Think Secret was over NDA materials, not the rumors. They may not like those, but they can't do anything about them. However, showing pictures of items strictly under NDA instead of just writing about them or doing a mock up is a completely different matter. Yay for more FUD...
if microsoft shut down a site, there would have been e-jihad against them. apple shuts a site down, the sheep just take another soma and go back to dreaming of yesterdays technology wrapped in shiny plastic.
According to this Computerworld story the EFF attorney Gross says Apple blinked first and Nick Ciarelli was 'very pleased' at the outcome: http://preview.tinyurl.com/2mhvpc Sort of ironic to have the words of Orwell in the 1984 commercial come back to haunt Apple...how did that go again? "Today, we celebrate the first glorious anniversary of the Information Purification Directives. We have created, for the first time in all history, a garden of pure ideology. Where each worker may bloom secure from the pests of contradictory and confusing truths. Our Unification of Thoughts is more powerful a weapon than any fleet or army on earth. We are one people, with one will, one resolve, one cause. Our enemies shall talk themselves to death and we will bury them with their own confusion. We shall prevail!" Yeah, indeed. "Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows."
Keep in mind that this is a student at harvard, meaning that he has some money in the family, and also, perhaps more importantly, meaning he will soon reap the benefit of such random big company lawsuits when he's a lawyer representing them.. I'm sorry for freedom, and apple fighting it, but I'm not sure I should be sorry for the student. In fact in most newsitems involving 'students' they are more likely to be/represent the 'bad' side the last few years :/
Wonders.... Gee, if Apple doesn't want people to write about its products, then perhaps nobody should review or even run advertisements for Apple's reassuringly expensive crap?
Yeah, he's all about the consumer, isn't he? Where are all the Job Fanboi's now?
Hi, this is David... The moderator edited my comment to leave the l'inq but take out my observations. What's the deal? Please email me or comment back.
I have used macs for years and was going to get a new mac with leopard but saw a friends windows vista and thought a) it is more compatible with other users b) microsoft get bad press all the time but you don't see them flattening the little guy (just buying him out!) c) PCs look a lot! cheaper d) steve jobs is clearly evil and this article seems to comfirm this. Add to this my mac crashes constantly anything must be an improvement.
You've come full circle Apple. 1984 was so long ago... ;(
It doesn't matter. Apple cannot stop the leaks. The info that fueled Think Secret will pop up elsewhere.