Santa Clara County, CA - Today the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) continued to support three online journalists in a fight to protect their anonymous sources. EFF, along with co-counsel Thomas Moore III and Richard Wiebe, filed a brief on behalf of the journalists, responding to Apple Computer Inc.'s opposition to the journalists' request for the California Appellate Court in Santa Clara to intervene.
Apple is suing several unnamed individuals, called "Does," who allegedly leaked information about an upcoming product code-named "Asteroid." Apple has subpoenaed Nfox, the ISP for PowerPage.org publisher Jason O'Grady, demanding that the ISP turn over the communications and unpublished materials O'Grady obtained while he was gathering information for his articles about "Asteroid." Apple has also been granted permission to issue subpoenas directly to EFF clients PowerPage and AppleInsider for similar information.
EFF appealed the trial court decision which held that if a journalist publishes information a business deems to be a trade secret, this act destroys constitutional protection for the journalist's confidential sources and unpublished materials. EFF awaits word from the California Appellate Court as to whether the appeal will be granted.
Contacts:
Kevin Bankston
Attorney, Equal Justice Works / Bruce J. Ennis Fellow
Electronic Frontier Foundation
bankston@eff.org
Kurt Opsahl
Staff Attorney
Electronic Frontier Foundation
kurt@eff.org