Back in 2005, one particular action by Apple—then called Apple Computer—set the blogosphere and the online journalism community into a snit-fit: the famously secretive company sued three online sites—O’Grady’s PowerPage,Apple Insider, and Think Secret—for publishing stolen trade secrets related to an unreleased audio interface codenamed “Asteroid.”
Apple sued the three sites (and their ISPs) in an effort to get information on who leaked insider information to the sites. Apple won the suits, but the non-profit Electronic Frontier Foundation defended the sites on appeal, arguing they were entitled to the same protection afforded to journalists’s sources under so-called “shield laws.”
