My own site, Think Secret, which I started when I was 13 years old, didn't comply with Apple's demands. So the company sued me and sought to uncover the identities of my sources. (I mounted a First Amendment defense and, shortly before graduating, settled the suit, leaving Apple reporting behind to join The Daily Beast.)
It wasn't the only time Apple has used the courts in an effort to discover who's leaking. In December 2004, the company subpoenaed two sites, AppleInsider and O'Grady's PowerPage, to try to find out who had leaked information to them about a top-secret project. Apple lost on appeal and gave up the fight.
Why has Apple changed tactics? It may have something to do with the fact that Apple leaks have shifted from scrappy fan sites into the mainstream. These days, Mac rumors are regularly published by technology news powerhouses like Engadget, which is owned by AOL, while the spy photos of the new iPod nano this summer were first published on the personal blog of Kevin Rose, the founder of the popular social news web site Digg. "The people who are posting this stuff—a lot of them are affiliated with big companies, or have grown into big companies," says Dave Hamilton, the publisher of iPodObserver, which published advance photos of the iPhone 3G. Perhaps Apple is now seeking to avoid legal fisticuffs with more established companies that are less likely to cave in to its demands.
It can't have helped that Apple's legal efforts to identify leakers have been entirely fruitless. And as Apple expands its roster of partners—the iPhone will be sold in 70 countries by the end of the year—the number of people possessing information about future products will increase.
Or perhaps Apple has belatedly realized that strong-arming fan sites into removing their reports only serves to confirm those reports, which quickly spread to other news outlets. Few outside the Apple faithful were following Think Secret's story about the Mac mini—until Apple sued us, propelling the leak into the pages of The New York Times (the suit "appears to acknowledge the accuracy of the reports," the paper said).
But maybe Apple has also realized that when it threatens, subpoenas, and sues web sites run by some of its biggest fans, its actions create a torrent of negative PR that ultimately tarnishes Apple's brand.
Apple has contended that leaks dampen interest in new products, but if anything they generate a great deal of excitement around its announcements. “All of the rumors are good for Apple in the long run—it keeps a lot of attention on Apple,” says Arnold Kim, the proprietor of MacRumors.com. Apple’s apparent shift marks the end of a self-defeating war.
Thank you.
As a first time user, your comment has been submitted for review.
Please allow time before your comment is available for viewing.
Please log in to leave comments.
Alexandra Penney is an artist, best-selling author, former editor-in-chief of Self magazine, and originator, with Evelyn Lauder, of the Pink Ribbon for breast cancer awareness. She had a one-person show at Galerie in Berlin in April and her work was shown at Miami’s Art Basel. She lives in New York, has one treasured son in Los Angeles and more amazing friends than could ever be imagined.
The Daily Beast is dedicated to news and commentary, culture, and entertainment. We carefully curate the web’s most essential stories and bring you original must-reads from our talented contributors.
Steve Emerson is Executive Director of the Investigative Project on Terrorism and author of 5 books and countless articles on terrorism. His most recent book is Jihad Incorporated: A Guide to Militant Islam in the U.S.
The Daily Beast is dedicated to news and commentary, culture, and entertainment. We carefully curate the web’s most essential stories and bring you original must-reads from our talented contributors.
Leslie H. Gelb, a former Times columnist and senior government official, is author of the forthcoming HarperCollins book Power Rules: How Common Sense Can Rescue American Foreign Policy, a book that shows how to think about and use power in the twenty-first century. He is President Emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Nicholas Ciarelli is an assistant product manager at The Daily Beast.
Nicholas Ciarelli is an assistant product manager at The Daily Beast.
Nicholas Ciarelli is an assistant product manager at The Daily Beast.
Nicholas Ciarelli is an assistant product manager at The Daily Beast.
Nice article
It seems to me that Apple has more to gain by participating with and not against, their most ardent fans online. http://www.socialmediaworx.com/2008/why-doesnt-apple-get-social-media/
Apparently, Apple employees are 15x more likely to use the word "secrecy" to describe their company than employees at other companies: http://blog.glassdoor.com/2008/10/05/apple-a-fortress-of-secrecy/
I really admire that Nicholas Ciarelli started ThinkSecret when he was just 13, I wish I would have had a brilliant idea like that when I was 13.
Brilliant article. I've been following the Nick Ciarelli/Think Secret story for years. Here's some wiki info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_dePlume
Glad you found a new home online.
- South Dakota
Apple is a big company, and it still has a lot of intellectual property to protect. You're making a pretty big assumption in linking your case to their current efforts, or lack thereof. And, you have no real way of knowing whether or not they are taking any action. They may just be better at doing it in a more stealth way than when you were a snot-nosed brat and they were a smaller company.
"F- it," said Steve Jobs to an audience of soul-mortgaged thralls, "we're evil. But our stuff is *sooo good*. You'll keep taking our abuse. You love it, you *worm*. Because our stuff is *great*. It's *shiny* and it's *pretty* and it's *cool* and it *works*. It's not like you'll go back to a Windows Mobile phone. Ha! Ha!"
http://tinyurl.com/4roxbf
Great to see you back in print, Nick. Gonna bookmark this Beast thing for daily reads.
I realized a long time ago, when I was still in school, and I smelled some of the BS that our educators wanted me to swallow. In 1792 there was a political party called the "Democratic-Republican Party", and now I'm to believe that they are separate. It seems to me that the "Democratic-Republican Party" which probably still exist as one would forever have complete control over our government... which they do. But I digress... I don't care what the media polls are. I have never been polled (ever). Nor has anyone I met (ever). I question the accuracy. If what I gather from my own polls is correct then John McCain doesn't have an ice cubes chance in Hell of becoming our Commander in Chief unless our votes don't count. Which they don't. So I am aware that from what you read from here you may stop reading and count me out since I decided not to vote. I am a Republican and I do not support John McCain. I do support Barrack Obama and wish him well. I have decided not to vote until the open ballet is reinstated.
The "closed ballet" system has been implemented because a long time ago, we did have an open ballet. And everyone know who their neighbor voted for. And people retaliated and vandalized opposing party members homestead. (this is the time when the Democratic-Republican Party had other competition such as the Federalists) We no longer live in such a time. In fact walk down your street and see how many houses and cars publicly display who they intend to vote for. An open ballet would leave a paper trail and allow me to look in the books and read off the lists of names of the citizens that voted . And I would look for just my name and verify that it matches that candidate that I voted for.