Can Information Be Both False And Confidential At The Same Time?
from the making-the-news-more-well-known dept
H&R Block is the latest big company to freak out over "anonymous postings" on online message boards and are trying to sue that person, who they suspect to be an employee of the firm. Here's where the story gets interesting. They're accusing this person of posting both "false" and "confidential" information. Now, it's certainly possible that the person is posting two pieces of information separately - one false, one confidential, but they don't seem to indicate that. In general, it makes sense to pick one or the other (unless you're Diebold). By accusing someone of posting confidential information, they're basically admitting that the information is true. So, while it is possible that the information was posted in a misleading way, the fact that they first say the information is "false" and then say it was a violation of company policies for revealing confidential info makes you wonder which one it actually was. If the information is false, then the company should say so and go after the poster on those grounds. If it's confidential, they should use that. However, to say it's both makes you wonder.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
It could be both, sort of...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
'their' should be 'they're'
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
another way for both to be true...
Also, some confidential information when taken out of context would have an entirely different meaning, and thus still be confidential, yet be false.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
You're forgetting the obvious.... (which has alrea
That's why the information is friken confidential in the first palce.
dhurrr... you don't want people who haven't been drinking the cool-aid to actually read the tripe you would have the regular, rank-and-file, cool-aid drinking slobs.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: You're forgetting the obvious.... (which has a
Please: flaming troll responses only ;-)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: You're forgetting the obvious.... (which has a
How's that for a flaming troll...
I don't understand why the various information service that provide intelligence on Wall St. haven't started ranking CEOs/managment teams by their truthfullness. It seems to me that the inability of managment to map to their company's current state of reality is onh the of the *major* problems with listed companies. Fear over leaked internal company memos are merely a symptom of the illness.
Of course, maybe even at the CEO level the entire capitolist process is a random walk and that all CEOs really represent are really good poker players that spend most of their time blufing (with the down-side being sometimes they bet the house and loose).
[ link to this | view in chronology ]