Blogger Settles With Apple Over Think Secret Site
Nick Ciarelli hasn’t yet graduated from college, but the seasoned blogger has already reached what is being described as a favorable settlement with a global computer Goliath.
The editor and publisher of ThinkSecret has agreed to shut down his Apple-focused computer gossip site, in settlement of a three-year-old lawsuit brought by Apple Inc. However, he will not have to reveal the apparent inside sources he relied on for information about planned new products being developed by the company, reports Computerworld.
The First Amendment has prevailed,” says Terry Gross, a lawyer representing Think Secret, “and every Internet journalist should feel some strength from what’s happened.”
Ciarelli, a 22-year-old Harvard University undergraduate who serves as an executive editor on the college newspaper’s staff, reportedly started running the ThinkSecret site when he was 13. In its lawsuit, Apple accused him of misappropriating trade secrets by obtaining confidential information from people inside the company and publishing it on his blog.
He and Apple could not be reached for comment, according to Computerworld.
Wired: “Apple Kills Think Secret: Publisher Nick Ciarelli Talks”
Technology (the Guardian newspaper): “Apple kills Think Secret blog”
PC World: “Think Secret Shuts Down”
