:Information Law and Policy Spring 10

While we’re on the subject of trade secrets and paranoia, last week, Gizmodo got its hands on a prototype of the new iPhone, allegedly left in a Redwood City bar, picked up by someone, and sold to Gizmodo for $5,000. A criminal investigation is now under way not about trade secrets, but whether or not Gizmodo’s acquisition of the phone amounts to theft. It’s like a trade secret case on steroids. CNET reports that a San Mateo judge granted California’s Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team (REACT) a warrant to raid Gizmodo editor Jason Chen’s house and seize “four computers and two servers.” I know this is a bit outside of the scope of this class’s readings, but the most interesting part of this will be around First Amendment protection of online journalism. According to CNET, “Any prosecution would be complicated because of the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of the press: the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2001 that confidential information leaked to a news organization could be legally broadcast, although that case did not deal with physical property and the radio station did not pay its source.”

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