Legal settlement forces Apple rumour site off the Net

With its concerns rising over new product being revealed online prior to their official unveiling, computer giant Apple Inc. has this week forced an enthusiast rumour-based Web site off the Net entirely. Apple settles lawsuit that sees rumour site ThinkSecret forced offline. Credit: Apple.

Apple settles lawsuit that sees rumour site ThinkSecret forced offline. Credit: Apple.More pointedly, ThinkSecret.com is to be shut down completely as part of a settlement in a long-running lawsuit brought against the site by Apple back in January of 2005. At that time, Apple sued ThinkSecret.com after it published advance information relating to a product in the popular Mac line, which Apple did not publicly roll out until two weeks later.While ThinkSecret.com is to close its service, another stipulation in Thursday’s settlement means that those people responsible for leaking the Apple information will not have their identities revealed, reports the Seattle Post Intelligencer.Nick Ciarelli, a Harvard student who publishes ThinkSecret.com, has commented in an official statement that the two parties reached an "amicable settlement," leaving him free to forward his "college studies and broader journalistic pursuits."The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a non-profit group that advocates for free speech, has represented other online journalists in a similar Apple cases contesting the disclosure of confidential information sources – which Apple also came away from empty handed. According to Kurt Opsahl, a lawyer with the EFF, the ThinkSecret settlement came about because Apple was in danger of losing the case, which would have seen it saddled with having to pick up the bill for ThinkSecret’s legal costs. Opsahl also warned Apple that: "it is neither useful nor wise to sue its fans."