Apple Forces Rumors Site To Shut Down
from the ouch dept
For a few years now, there's been a legal battle going on between Apple and Think Secret, a very popular Apple rumors site for publishing certain rumors. The lawsuit had many people up in arms, as they pointed out that Think Secret should be protected in the same way a newspaper is protected (and noting that Apple would never sue the WSJ the way it sued Think Secret). It made sense to go after whoever leaked the info to ThinkSecret, but going after the publication was ridiculous. While the case has dragged on, unfortunately, Apple won some of the legal battles. Now, as sent in by Jon, comes the news that Apple and Think Secret have "settled," but that settlement means that Think Secret needs to cease publishing entirely. The guy behind Think Secret notes that he never gave up the source, and calls this settlement amicable -- but it sets a horrible precedent for plenty of sites, and may create quite the chilling effect on reporters and bloggers alike. It's really a shame that Apple even decided to pursue this vendetta, and the fact that it ends with Think Secret being shut down completely is a travesty.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.
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Filed Under: anonymity, rumors
Companies: apple, thinksecret
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I wonder
Or will Apple still be idolized by many, as they have been for the past few years?
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Re: I wonder
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Duh!
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Apple
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Disappointing.
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Get rid of Trademark, Copyright, and Patent
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agreed
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Bummer.
Here's to ya, Nick. You had a nice long run.. Well done, young man.
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Maybe the guy got $20 million bucks for shutting the site down.
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Maybe the guy got $20 million bucks for shutting the site down.
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Maybe the guy got $20 million bucks for shutting the site down.
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Re:
You can't read ( may create quite the chilling effect ) and you submitted your comment three times in a panic. Settle down, big boy.
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As for the 3 posts, not my fault this site sucks.
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Re:
Always good for a laugh when comments like yours surface...do tell us, why are you posting comments, or even on the site if you so think this site sucks?
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Re:
Um... because the next time a blogger/reporter gets a hot tip, he has to think about the fact that he may end up with years of legal headaches leading to his site being shut down. No matter what the actual agreement is, since it was totally private, this situation can be used to scare any blogger/reporter into settling quickly or just NOT posting their content.
That's the chilling effect.
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A tear to my eye..
Nice Post. Sad to see TS go. Anyhow, tomorrow is a new day, which means 5 Bazillion new mac rumor sites will spring up. haha
Thanks.
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No great loss
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Apple vs MS? No Comparison
Fact: MS has a customer satisfaction rate of ~26% (their internal numbers)
Fact: Apple's customer satisfaction number consistently hover above 60%
Fact: When my 17" PowerBook G4, which I purchased in Feb, 2003, went down last month, Apple replaced the $1000 motherboard for $300 (AppleCare had run out long ago)
Fact: MS tried to charge my wife $300 for a new copy of XP when she lost her restore disks in a move even though she had proof of purchase (she loves the iBook I bought her after I chucked her Dell in the trash)
Fact: Initial 2007 holiday shopping reports show Apple products dominating consumer electronics purchases
This is a great company that makes great products. One of the reasons their products stand out has been Apple's ability to release new products without copycat competitors being able to discern what's coming around the bend and beating them to the punch with watered down rip-offs.
Some of Think Secret's reports threatened Apple's advantage in this regard and since Apple couldn't track down the source internally, they gave Think Secret a nice wad of cash to walk away ("amicable" = i got enough cash that I feel good about this deal). Win/Win.
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Re: Apple vs MS? No Comparison
Apple isn't perfect, they don't care about you, they want to make money. They make a better product than MS right now, but they are even more closed and just as big a dick as MS (they just have less weight to throw around).
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Re: Re: Apple vs MS? No Comparison
I'm sorry, I must have been asleep during the era it was the other way around
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Re: Apple vs MS? No Comparison
I'll stick with my PC thank you very much, and you can have your shiny crApple toys.
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yet another reason to hate Apple
I hope the public will wake the f**k up. Apple is evil. If you think Microsoft is evil, well, then you need to also take a serious look at Apple's practices.
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apple sucks
Apple, MS and Google!! They own you all! OK not all of you, but really, a good lot of yous!
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You people are just so stupid
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well now that were comparing
MS to bush as Apple is to Hillary...
They both like dick in the ass, and they both are two-timing hookers who just want a hand in your pocketbook...
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What?
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What?
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Did you hear???
Don't forget to look for the new iCradle that combines all of the current Apple products into a baby cradle. It will be available in pastel pink and blue for only $2999 and of course super ultra hip dark grey / nickel for $3999.
They're going to be manufactured in China by a contract manufacturing company and several patents will be filed covering the innovativeness...
Steve Jobs will show it off at MacWorld and make the cover of babycouture magazine.
This will be followed with the next version 100 days later that has twice the memory and is iBinky (bluetooth enabled) compatible.
BWAHAHAHAHA!
YOU'RE GOING DOWN TECH DIRT!!!
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Way to go Apple!
And I agree, this sets a bad precedent.
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You call that a bargain?
Sorry bud, you still got ripped off. Actually anyone who agrees to Apple's ridiculous prices is getting ripped off; but then I say that as someone who builds his own PCs... so there might be a bias :)
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Re: You call that a bargain?
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If everyone else but you is doing fine maybe you should consider placing the blame somewhere other than the site. Just sayin'.
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Travesty....I don't think so
1) The source was not revealed.
2) There was no court judgement which in my opinion would truly set a precedent.
This doesn't prevent the source from reporting to someone else and twenty other sites can pop up without worrying about a judicial precedent. Not the best outcome, but hardly a travesty.
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Note: the **** that was the word 'porn', since when is the word porn considered profanity.
I WILL NEVER BUY AN APPLE AGAIN.
Each person I talked to was more arrogant than the last, it like they have been trained to be complete DICKS.
They all think they all think they are steve jobs.
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APPLE IS DOING THAT!!!
I was on the phone for over an hour yesterday and a half of an hour today with Apple support and yes, I have AppleCare. (Worthless). The wouldn't call the manufacture, they wouldn't even pull up the web page stating what we all know.
My problem is with Civ IV - won't run after quicktime 7.6 update.
I have IMac 10.4.11 and is the ONLY software I have installed is Civ IV. Everything else I do is online. AGAIN, THE ONLY software I have installed is Civ IV. (Bought parallels never needed it, never install it).
No root kits, no programing suites, no russian 'free' games, no ****, no freeware, no shareware, no cute nifty anything, no file sharing, no ripping, no copying, NOTHING ELSE, nor do I use anything else installed on the machine. Nothing! No, garage band, no quicktime, no iphoto, no email,
So, it is either a problem with Apple OS 10.4.11 or Civ IV 2.13 --- Lets think what changed two and half weeks ago. ONLY ONE THING - Quick Time 7.6.
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After 22 years I have retired POOR from IT the industry.
My First Game Machine: Pong - 1972.
My Handheld Game Machine: TI-59 with the mag strip reader - 1977
MY first Computers Vic-20/Timex/appleii/mac 128.
And probably over a 100 computers since then.
Professionally, I sold and installed 10,000 plus operating systems, 1,000 of servers, hundreds of networks. I worked tier IV help desk - Thats where you stay on the phone until the problem is resolved! Shift changes someone else takes over but they keep working the problem until resolved!
Lets just 'pretend' a I know a little bit about computers, software and operating systems. little bit - No I don't code, I solve the problems, that don't need coding.
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I called Apple care: they said reinstall your os?! blank-ME... I could have bought a Dell and saved a thousand bucks to have some idiot tell me to reinstall my os. (oh, and I did. now, I can't double click an icon to open a file or run a program - nice reinstall)
They changed the operating system then they blame the manufacture. Great way to keep third party companies writing software for your OS. (Great business plan)
That Apple absolutely refuses to acknowledge anything is wrong - infuriates me.
I don't like being treated like an idiot, talked down to, treated like the customer is the PROBLEM, etc. especially when I am right! (Or, I guess you are all wrong too.)
I told them it's not just me it's thousands of people, (Don't care at all)
They pay for all this warm and fuzzy advertising but, they don't deliver.
What happened to Apple? I notice 'Computer Support' is selection 3. I guess they are now a gadget company.
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I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER APPLE AGAIN.(or ipod or phone or t-shirt)
I might even sell this one.
I will go out of my way to slam them on the internet and people I know anywhere and anytime.
You have ticked off one person but, you will lose a hundred customers (trust me)
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Here the other excuse I find unacceptable, they sell what 50 software titles in their stores. 1/2 is apple software. 1/2 is third party software.
"Note: Products sold through this website that do not bear the Apple Brand name are serviced and supported exclusively by their manufacturers in accordance with terms and conditions packaged with the products. Apple's Limited Warranty does not apply to products that are not Apple-branded, even if packaged or sold with Apple products. Please contact the manufacturer directly for technical support and customer service."
THEN DON'T SELL THEM.
Heck Microsoft has "certified to run" on 'X' OS.
Is that so hard Apple, that you won't or unable to certify software to run under your own OS.
Quicktime is apple answer to microsofts ie - Something to lock into your os so you can only use it.
Quicktime sucked 8 years ago and still does, I-tunes is just about as bad. (you can't list songs by file name?! what!)
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Peeved, Angry, plus more.... ANGRY - VERY ANGRY
Apple, you better figure out customers don't need you - you need them.
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