Apple's threats fail to quiet Web chatter

     Since Apple Computer filed a lawsuit in January against Think Secret, a Web site operated by a 19-year-old Harvard student, accusing the site of publishing Apple's trade secrets, the company has sent a series of cease-and-desist letters to the student, Nicholas Ciarelli. So far, the letters appear to have done nothing to reduce Ciarelli's enthusiasm. He has continued to publish articles about Apple's product plans. Apple's continued legal barrage has also stirred up the community of Web sites and Web logs, or blogs, that routinely speculate on the company's product plans.
     Several operators said that Apple's legal campaign did not appear to have slowed the flow of information about details and announcement dates of products. On Monday, another Web site, Macosxrumors, removed an article describing Apple's recent distribution of a test version of its new Tiger operating system, stating that it had done so at the request of Apple's lawyers.      The Web site operator, Alexandros Roussos, is a college student at Universite de Rene Descartes in Paris. He said that much of the information published on the site, which he began in May 2002, came from anonymous sources. ''I'm a bit disappointed by these moves,'' he said of Apple's legal campaign. ''I think Apple should protect itself from trade secret revelations, but not this way.'' He said that he was currently seeking legal advice on how to respond to Apple's legal threat. At the same time, Roussos said the dispute between Apple and Web site operators did not appear to have reduced gossip about Apple. ''Even though we lost contact with some sources, the rumor flow is still quite the same,'' he said. ''The fact that there are quite reliable ways to share information anonymously is probably the reason why sources sometimes persist.''     
     Apple refused to comment on the letters sent to Ciarelli and Roussos. Ciarelli, who said he still considered himself an Apple fan, said he was a journalist and should be protected by the U.S. laws that shield journalists from having to divulge the names of confidential sources. ''The important part is that I've done nothing wrong,'' Ciarelli said. ''We're staying focused on providing our audience with news. It's business as usual.'' So far this month, Ciarelli has reported that Apple is planning to introduce the newest version of its operating system, known as OS X Tiger, in April, and that it is also planning newer versions. In a separate case, Apple filed suit in December against unnamed individuals presumably Apple employees who might have leaked information about new music software to several Apple enthusiast Web sites, including PowerPage and Apple Insider.  
     The Web sites were not named in the suit. In that case, a judge in Santa Clara County Superior Court in California ruled this month that the Web sites could not block a subpoena from Apple to the e-mail provider for one of the Web sites seeking messages that might identify the confidential source of the information. Apple said that it was seeking the source because the information was protected under trade secret law. Lawyers for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is representing the Web site operators, have argued that journalists' privilege should nullify Apple's subpoena. They filed an appeal this week to overturn the ruling.