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.
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I wonder by MadJo on Dec 20th, 2007 @ 3:00am
Would this change the way people look at Apple?
Or will Apple still be idolized by many, as they have been for the past few years?
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Duh! by noone on Dec 20th, 2007 @ 4:07am
Apple's business practices are not much, if any better, than M$. They've just been the underdog for so long, that people don't notice it.
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Apple by bob walker on Dec 20th, 2007 @ 4:30am
I can understand the need for secrecy with business, but I am disappointed with apple over this very much. seems like you ignore them and no one would have bothered reading the site. by suing them you make the info seem credible. seems like freedom of speech only applies to multinationals and deep pockets anymore. if you own the network - you are free to speak. what a shame - apple should have lost this one and I own a mac. jobs get a life....
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Disappointing. by FilmJr on Dec 20th, 2007 @ 4:49am
Having owned only Macs since 1999, I've only recently decided to build my first PC. The two bitter pills I couldn't swallow with Apple were: the lack of current generation, mid-level video cards, and the ridiculous prices of memory on BTO Macs from the Apple Store ($699 for 4g in a new iMac....please.) I think this "settlement" with Think Secret shines a flashlight on a trend that's difficult to notice when wearing Mac-colored glasses: that Apple is changing (or possibly has already changed) from a great company into a company that makes great products, and those are very different things. Blame the iPod and its phenomenal mainstream success; the Mac hardcore just aren't as important anymore.
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Get rid of Trademark, Copyright, and Patent by Wolfger on Dec 20th, 2007 @ 5:05am
That'll set things straight.
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agreed by Someone on Dec 20th, 2007 @ 5:08am
Apple has definitely changed and your comment about the faithful not being as important is very true. ever evident by the delay in releasing leopard in favor of the iPhone. I work in education which I believe is still one of Apple's Larger markets and the delay from a May release to an October release, basically meant that we bought almost 200 computers this summer that we knew were going to be running an outdated OS in the fall. and they didn't even do what Microsoft did leading up to the release of Vista and let you purchase a freeminimal upgrade license, you have to buy it totally outright.
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Bummer. by HAL on Dec 20th, 2007 @ 6:02am
I remember Nicholas Ciarelli back when he was a troll on the MacosRumors.com IRC channel. Ryan Meader and the gang dismissed the kid (and really, he was just a kid) but he remained zealous. Times sure did change. Meader lost all his sources and ThinkSecret (along with AppleInsider) became the best rumour sites around.
Here's to ya, Nick. You had a nice long run.. Well done, young man.
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by Anonymous Coward on Dec 20th, 2007 @ 6:34am
Do you know what the settlement was? How do you know this will have a chilling effect on other bloggers/reporters.
Maybe the guy got $20 million bucks for shutting the site down.
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by Anonymous Coward on Dec 20th, 2007 @ 6:34am
Do you know what the settlement was? How do you know this will have a chilling effect on other bloggers/reporters.
Maybe the guy got $20 million bucks for shutting the site down.
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by Anonymous Coward on Dec 20th, 2007 @ 6:34am
Do you know what the settlement was? How do you know this will have a chilling effect on other bloggers/reporters.
Maybe the guy got $20 million bucks for shutting the site down.
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A tear to my eye.. by Technology Blog on Dec 20th, 2007 @ 6:36am
This news really saddened me. I used to be an avid reader of ThinkSecret, I was there in their glory days and their not-so-glorious days as well. I remember when the news first broke about the Apple lawsuit... I guess I never thought anything would come of it because thats what happens when major corporations sue website owners these days *cough*piratebay*cough*. I stopped reading ThinkSecret when they stopped putting up content frequently enough to keep up with the other 50Bajillion Mac Rumorsites. I wonder if Nick will anonymously startup a new rumor site now, afterall he DID get to keep his super secret source... :D
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 by Uncle Deercamp on Dec 20th, 2007 @ 6:42am
When the lawsuit came down, Think Secret went downhill in a big way. Plenty of other fish in the sea.
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Re: by 4-80-sicks on Dec 20th, 2007 @ 6:55am
Do you know what the settlement was? How do you know this will have a chilling effect on other bloggers/reporters
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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Apple vs MS? No Comparison by TerpsFreak on Dec 20th, 2007 @ 7:35am
Anyone who would compare Apple to MS in the light of this article clearly has an MS agenda.
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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yet another reason to hate Apple by xxdesmus on Dec 20th, 2007 @ 7:38am
This just adds more fuel to the fire. I will NEVER buy an Apple computer because I despise what this company stands for. They cheat, they lie, they use dirty slanderous tactics, and they bully innocent journalists.
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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Re: I wonder by no brainer on Dec 20th, 2007 @ 7:44am
People will still swoon over apple. Idiots personally, their OS is okay and yeah sure iPods are cool, but its a fucking mp3 player for Christ sake. And they are obviously not for the little guy or they wouldn't have shut down this dudes site. Steve Jobs is a fag.
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Re: Apple vs MS? No Comparison by jhunter on Dec 20th, 2007 @ 7:54am
They aren't comparing products, they are comparing their business practices. However, MS (despite everything else) doesn't sue their biggest fans for promoting their product. I'm tired of reading these posts from Apple apologists all over the internet, if we discovered Steve Jobs sacrificing babies on an alter of iPods you would probably say "at least he isn't dumb enough to say we will never need more than 640k of ram".
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: Apple vs MS? No Comparison by James on Dec 20th, 2007 @ 8:03am
Huh? Talk about an agenda, sheez.. you must be enamored with your shiny toys that you haven't stepped out into the real world.
I'll stick with my PC thank you very much, and you can have your shiny crApple toys.
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apple sucks by jason on Dec 20th, 2007 @ 8:15am
and this finally proves it. they are no longer that company that stood up to the man in 1984! THEY ARE THE MAN!
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 by Sean on Dec 20th, 2007 @ 8:48am
I can't understand how you people post these hyperbolic anecdotal stories you have with a company that just proves that the entire company is X way because of one experience. All of you people who develop loyalty to one OS or one set of hardware are just incredibly stupid 'sheep' (To use the trendiest word ever) equally as brainwashed as the same people you criticize.
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well now that were comparing by Tony on Dec 20th, 2007 @ 8:48am
It seems fit to make an analogy here...
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? by psssst on Dec 20th, 2007 @ 8:55am
I guess it's just a matter of time before this site is shutdown if they are going after rumor sites.
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What? by psssst on Dec 20th, 2007 @ 8:56am
I guess it's just a matter of time before this site is shutdown if they are going after rumor sites.
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Did you hear??? by Anonymous Chowder on Dec 20th, 2007 @ 9:50am
Apple is going to be releasing new versions of the iPhone and iPod this year! And new versions of macs as well... Laptop and Desktop!
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! by Bryan Price on Dec 20th, 2007 @ 10:14am
You're showing your elitist ass again. Not that I've had any inkling of wanting to run a Mac, ever since they came out. I own no Apple product, not even an iPod. I could rant on, but I think that would be worthless.
And I agree, this sets a bad precedent.
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by Anonymous Coward on Dec 20th, 2007 @ 10:45am
Yeah, I can read ahole.
As for the 3 posts, not my fault this site sucks.
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You call that a bargain? by Damien on Dec 20th, 2007 @ 10:46am
That right there is your problem: you think you got a bargain. The most expensive PC motherboard I could find off the top of my hat is a whopping $399.99, with a board equal to the feature-set in the G4 (2-slot DDR ram, Ultra ATA HD connection, either AGP or PCI video card connection) only running around $50 dollars or so.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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by Damien on Dec 20th, 2007 @ 10:47am
"As for the 3 posts, not my fault this site sucks."
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 by Syn-Ack on Dec 20th, 2007 @ 10:58am
While I agree that it was bad publicity for Apple to persue this case, I definately do not feel it was a travesty for a couple of reasons.
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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Re: You call that a bargain? by Anonymous Coward on Dec 20th, 2007 @ 11:42am
I would have to agree. There is not board out there that should cost $1000. That is insanely high and a pretty good reason not to buy Apple product in my opinion.
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Re: by Anonymous Coward on Dec 20th, 2007 @ 1:34pm
and not this site's fault you suck, especially at posting comments.
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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by Anonymous Coward on Dec 20th, 2007 @ 2:04pm
Just because the site has technical difficulties doesn't mean the content isn't interesting. Wrong a lot of the time, but still interesting.
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Re: Re: Apple vs MS? No Comparison by Anonymous Coward on Dec 20th, 2007 @ 2:06pm
They make a better product than MS right now
I'm sorry, I must have been asleep during the era it was the other way around
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Re: by Mike on Dec 20th, 2007 @ 3:13pm
How do you know this will have a chilling effect on other bloggers/reporters.
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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by sammy colbert on Jan 1st, 2008 @ 7:05pm
Of course Apple is wrong here. A nicey nice liberal company believing in constitutional values and then acting like old Russia when it comes to information control. Look how they act wrt the iPhone, locking users to a carrier and slamming consumers who just want choice. Oh well, should we expect anything different?
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