Harvard student named as target of Apple suit

AP ^ | 1/14/5 | Jonathan Finer

[SmithL]

Web site leaked inside details on new products

Cambridge, Mass. -- Nicholas Ciarelli was not even old enough to shave when he started getting under Apple Computer Inc.'s skin.

As a 13-year-old middle-schooler, the New Woodstock, N.Y., native built a Web site in 1998 and began publishing insider news and rumors about Apple, using the alias Nick dePlume.

Three years later, Ciarelli's Think Secret site was first to report that the company would introduce a G4 version of the PowerBook laptop series. The product was released soon thereafter, boosting Think Secret's reputation among Apple fans, generating millions of page views per month.

But after a series of letters warning the Web site to stop publishing proprietary information, Apple decided enough was enough. When Ciarelli scored yet another scoop late last month by predicting the arrival of a new software package and a $499 computer rolled out at this week's Macworld Expo in San Francisco, the Cupertino computer-maker filed a lawsuit accusing him of illegally misappropriating trade secrets.

[SmithL]

So much for thinking differently.

[Richard Kimball]

But while lawsuits against online publications are rare, he said, the Uniform Trade Secrets Act, versions of which have been adopted by about 45 states, including California, prevents third parties from exposing information knowingly obtained from sources bound by confidentiality agreements.

The press had better come to this kid's defense if they ever want to use confidential sources again.

[1L]

>>prevents third parties from exposing information knowingly obtained from sources bound by confidentiality agreements.<<

Unconstitutional.

[Uncle Fud]

I sure hope he fights this. Unless he personally has signed a NDA with Apple, I can think of nothing he'e done wrong.

[newsgatherer]

I'd like to link to this article in tomorrows Christian news in maine.co, can anyone put up a picture of a crying apple?

[glorgau]

knowingly obtained from sources bound by confidentiality agreements.

He should be able to use this as his "get out of jail free" card. I believe the site uses a don't ask, don't tell policy. FWIW, I've sent in some rumors there myself.

[CheneyChick]

He's got a source somewhere, and that person is in deep doo-doo.

[TXnMA]

I'd like to link to this article in tomorrows Christian news in maine.co, can anyone put up a picture of a crying apple?

Gates drone's glee...

[TXnMA]

He should be able to use this as his "get out of jail free" card.

How so? Same as dealing in stolen goods.

[teletech]

Instead of going after this kid maybe Apple should find and plug their obvious internal leak.

[Old Professer]

I'll bet if you were in prison, you'd press your stripes.

[bikepacker67]

He's got a source somewhere, and that person is in deep doo-doo. More likely, he has numerous anonymous sources - I'm sure he gets emails from all sort of AKA's.

Apple doesn;'t have a chance in this one.

[BikerNYC]

Unconstitutional.

Absolutely, 1L (are you a 1L?). The person entering into the confidential agreement does not have the right to make a party to the agreement everyone he speaks to in violation of the agreement.

[Publius6961]

The press had better come to this kid's defense if they ever want to use confidential sources again.

Why?
It is speculation that this is the kid's source.

Why can't it simply be an unusually effective crystal ball? Ouija Board?

[Question_Assumptions]

Given the buzz that these rumors created for the roll-out, Apple is being silly. This sounds like a personal vendetta by a control freak, not a smart business move. And I'm saying this as someone who is very much pro-Mac, pro-iPod, and pro-iTunes.

[CheneyChick]

Apple has always been ultra-secret and ultra-protective about their products. Any Apple employee knows that in this industry that is their bread and butter. This company is an innovator and is copied over and over again.

Sure the kid has rights, but so does a corporation and there are laws. I still think that they are after the employee who leaked more than they are the kid.

[CheneyChick]

Instead of going after this kid maybe Apple should find and plug their obvious internal leak.

Gotta start somewhere.

[1L]

>> (are you a 1L<<

I was, about 8 years ago.

[TXnMA]

I'll bet if you were in prison, you'd press your stripes.

Hardly. Much of my career was spent as a creator of intellectual property, and I fully understand the value thereof.

No matter how the "something-for-nothing Napsterites" here want to spin it, the actions of Nicholas Ciarelli are identical to those of a fence dealing in stolen goods.

And I'd take the same position, whether the aggrieved party were Apple -- or Microsoft -- or Intel -- or TI, -- or a lone "basement inventor" -- or some obscure recording company, etc. Theft is theft.

I sincerely hope that whoever violated their NDA at Apple -- and this punk webmaster -- are given a long opportunity to "press their stripes"!

[BikerNYC]

But you're not an 8L, right? You graduated? ;-)