Archive | March, 2005

EFF to appeal ruling in Apple freedom of the press case. “The EFF has filed an appeal in the lawsuit involving Apple and a handful of rumor sites. The EFF argues that the original ruling endangers journalistic integrity, while giving Apple an easy time. By caesar@arstechnica.com (Ken “Caesar” Fisher).” From Ars Technica.

Interesting arguments. Looking forward to seeing how this case is resolved.

Andrew MacNeill follows up on my Ted’s full post(?) on Apple/Think secret. … “Either way, stolen property that provides a story spells bad news for anyone- journalist or not.”

If you have an apple and I take it, I have an apple and you don’t. You have been robbed of property. If you have an idea and I learn of it, then we both have an idea. You have not been robbed of your idea. Ideas should not be property to be protected by law from others. The practical, physical implementation of an idea – an invention – can be patented for a decade or two. An expression of an idea in writing – code or literature – can be copywritten for the (obscenely long, imho) period of seventy-five years or more. But an idea that you will do something or say something sometime is not an invention. It is not a copywritable expresssion. It may be a trade secret: some sort of confidential information that you can bind your employees and vendors under contract to keep confidential. Some secrets – the formula to Coke is often cited – are closely guarded for good reason. Other secrets – like a software project code name – is handed out like candy to try to get a buzz going about vaporware.

Rumor columnists occupy a funny niche. They don’t investigate as much as gather, they rarely verify. Calling them a journalist is a stretch at best. However, they do not steal. They don’t break into office buildings and crack safes and steal documents stamped SECRET. They answer the phone, they get email. Someone faxes them a tidbit or two.

Some of the people who send them rumors are making them up, lying about a new thing for the prestige or to start a buzz for their competing product or to quash a competitor. Some work for the company and are doing their jobs and some are undermining their employer. Some are probably violating the contracts they had with their companies, some with their supervisor’s approval and some with their oblivion.

The rumor monger hasn’t signed an NDA with Apple. They know enough to publish a rumor that the next iPod will be purple (remember, folks, you heard it here first!) and enough sense not to publish a secret schematic. These people aren’t competing for a Pulitzer. Most are likely low-paid flunkies at the magazines. (Just who is Buzz Hunter at Advisor, anyway? 🙂 But they’re just doing their jobs. They are not fencing stolen property, they are printing rumors.

Apple should not be able to waste court time and threaten rumormongers with bankrupcy through court procedings for publishing information they had no way of determining was or was not protected by some legal entanglement. Let Apple secure their leaky house themselves, not in the courts.

Dan Gillmor on Grassroots Journalism, Etc. reports Flickr/Yahoo Make Deal. “Yahoo is buying Flickr, and Jerry Yang (at PC Forum) just said he hoped not to do anything that makes the Flickr community feel neglected in any way.”

Alex Feldstein points to news that “Ask Jeeves (and Bloglines) sold. Ask Jeeves (which recently bought Bloglines) has been sold for $1.85 billion (an amazing sum). It has been bought by the owners of Expedia and TicketMaster… Will things improve? We’ll have to wait and see.”

Welcome, spring, and a belated happy anniversary for the blog!

Spring sprung in Contoocook this morning. Temperature’s above 40 for the first time this year. There’s still a couple of feet of snow on the ground, but it’s starting to warm up. Still waiting for the other shoe to drop – there’s snow in the forecast for tonight.

Three years ago Friday I started blogging and my Spring equinox entry included a picture of our humble abode buried in white stuff:

UPDATE: Fixed the link to the picture above.

Eighteen hundred blog postings later, …

Dan Gillmor on Grassroots Journalism, Etc. blogs “A Bubble Tale to Make You Angry. The Seattle Times should get a Pulitzer for the series called “Dot-Con Job” — a deep and scathing look at the sleaze that permeates a company called InfoSpace as it rose to prominence during the Internet bubble and then plummeted to almost nothing… I came away infuriated, and convinced that some people should go to jail.”

Don’t read it unless you, too, want to get miffed.