MacNewsWorld Talkback

Re: Who Was Deep Throat? Ask Steve Jobs and Judge Kleinberg
Posted by: Anonymous 2005-03-15 08:03:57

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Wal-Mart and Microsoft must thank their lucky stars that Apple is around trying its best to get its customers and fans to work up a dislike, taking the heat off the other companies consumers like to hate. It's latest victory over its own cheerleaders, a ruling by Santa Clara County (California) Superior Court Judge James Kleinberg that journalists at ThinkSecret, PowerPage and AppleInsider must "rat out" their confidential sources, leaves the online journalism community wondering where Apple and Judge Kleinberg have been all these years we've guessed at the identity of Deep Throat.

Re: Who Was Deep Throat? Ask Steve Jobs and Judge Kleinberg
Posted by: diveanddig 2005-03-15 16:42:33 In reply to: Anonymous

There are those in the press that feel they have immunity when it comes to publishing illegally obtained information. Does a member of the press have the right to withhold the names of informants that might tell them of a future nuclear attack on New York City? Or an assassination plot to murder the President? I would say not. What about a mass murderer that tells a reporter of his next victim or a plot to rob his neighbors home. Of course these are all illegal activities, some more serious than others, but all illegal nevertheless. So does any reporter have the obligation or right to withhold information that sanctions and even encourages illegal activities? Reporters are not priests or lawyers that take an oath to hold such information private. Bloggers are merely individuals that express their opinions on certain subjects via the new electronic media, the web. Anyone can call themselves a reporter if they publish on the web. What about laws such as obstruction of justice? Don't these count anymore? These juvenile rumor sites play games by trying to get "scoops" that serve no useful purpose, and publish true and false rumors that can cause wild stock price fluctuations and damage to investors and companies like Apple by divulging trade secrets. If this information has been obtained from folks who have broken the law by divulging such information, they should not be able to hide behind first amendment rights. This goes for presidential assassins, terrorists, and other law breakers. Companies like Apple also have rights that must be observed and respected.
Bill Bird