Yesterday, a state judge in California heard arguments in a lawsuit brought by Apple Computer to force three Web site publishers to reveal the names of confidential sources who disclosed to them Apple's plans for future products. According to the
NY Times,the judge is currently leaning toward permitting Apple to issue subhoenas to
Powerpage.org,
AppleInsider.com and
ThinkSecret.com
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties group, is on the case and have argued that online publishers have the same legal protection as traditional journalists, who, by law are protected from revealing confidential sources.
Nick DePlume (aka Nicholas Ciarelli, a Harvard Student--do these guys ever go to class??), operator of ThinkSecret has Apple going after him in another case. According to the Times:
In December, Think Secret published a description of a low-cost Macintosh computer under development, confidential information that was apparently acquired from people close to Apple. The company is seeking unspecified damages for the disclosure.
Though separate cases, the two lawsuits deal with similar issues. "The Think Secret case takes things a step further, because it is not just accusing unnamed sources of divulging trade secrets, but also accusing the Web sites that print it," Mr. Opsahl said.
Mr. DePlume's lawyer, Terry Gross of the San Francisco firm of Gross & Belsky, said the issue was whether writers published on small Web sites and in blogs should be afforded the same protections given to professional journalists with major news operations.
Personally, I think this suit and others like it, are a sign that the Wild West Frontier days of the Internet will soon be coming to an end. I think of some of the the insider info posted on this site and i can't help but believe that we won't soon be pressed with a similar suit.