During a dinner chat at "D: All Things Digital," Steve Jobs was asked about Apple's lawsuits against bloggers. From John Battelle, who is among those blogging the conference: "He claims that no one has the right to publish confidential information just because they can, and so far, the courts are agreeing with him. " Battelle's stayed out of the fray thus far but last night's comments pushed him into taking a public stance.
"I say, fuck that. I've stayed out of this one because it's orthogonal to search, but it's directly related to my ability to do my job, and I am not alone. At the core of this case is a clear attempt to draw a line between professional and amateur journalism, and as a practitioner of both, I have to say it's a very dangerous line to be drawing. Should the courts decide whether the next Tom Paine has to work at the Wall Street Journal before he starting cranking out his pamphlets? I don't think so."
He added: "Forcing journalism into some kind of a 'qualified' box is a very bad idea. Jobs vowed at the conference to take this issue to the Supreme Court if necessary. I hope he does, and I for one plan to fight him the whole way there. If you agree, help EFF work on this issue. "
John gets it.
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