Go ahead and spill your secrets to us bloggers. Apple won't sue
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Apple Computer has given up. Long known as obsessively secretive, Apple has decided not pursue its legal fight to force bloggers to divulge the names of those who leaked company documents about a yet-to-be-released digital music device.
Our Merc colleague John Boudreau has the story. In a court filing this week, Apple said it would not challenge a landmark ruling by the San Jose-based 6th District Court of Appeals in May that extended First Amendment protections to online publications, specifically PowerPage and AppleInsider. The Cupertino company had sought to compel the bloggers to expose their sources.
We at SiliconBeat consider ourselves journalists by day, and also bloggers (on this site) by night. We are fortunate to have journalist status. This decision helps all the other bloggers out there that we rely on and link to. This decision, hopefully, will let you tip us and others off to developments with comfort you will not end up behind bars.
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About the Author, Matt Marshall
Matt launched VentureBeat in September of 2006, with the realization that no one else was covering the entrepreneurial and tech innovation scene with the velocity or depth that he was. Prior to founding VentureBeat, he covered venture capital for the San Jose Mercury News from 2001 to 2006. In 2002, Matt was awarded "Journalist of the Year" by the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists. Prior to working at the Merc, he was a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Bonn, Germany from 1995 to 1998, and a writer for the Washington Post in 1994. Matt holds a PhD in Government and an MA in German and European Studies from Georgetown University. In addition to VentureBeat, Matt is also the Executive Producer of DEMO, the leading launchpad event for emerging technologies.
