Trying to get sworn statements from employees would be most likely illegal. The one employee who gave out trade secrets actually committed a crime and will end up in court for that. Do you think you Apple can ask employees for sworn statements that would incriminate one of them of a crime?

Alternatively, sworn statements would be useless because one of them would lie. And careful examination of computers would be useless as well, unless Apple hires idiots.

On top of that, such an investigation would be crippling morale in a development team, which could cost Apple dearly. What if one of the key developers decides that he cannot work for a company that doesn't trust him and quits? That kind of action could cost Apple thousands and thousands of dollars.

I don't think it would be illegal to get sworn statements per a non-disclosure statement. I'm sure there are a lot of those floating around 1 Infinite Loop.

What needs to be kept in mind is that this is a hostle witness talking about documents. We don't have and probably will never get Apple's side. I can't believe that their legal department is so stupid as to NOT be able to explain how they did conduct a thorough investigation. That department has proven themselves very competent in the past.

That said, it does seem reasonable that Apple should have done more interal work before going after jounalists.

OK - here's my question. I presume that any Apple employee that had access to Asteroid information would also be under contract, and that contract would have included an NDA that stipulated the penalities, including legal action, for a breach of information. By signing the contract are you not by design under a quasi oath ? Legally, maybe not, but in essence you are, considering that violating the NDA would result in termination and/or legal action. I guess what I am hinting at is that the EFF is saying Apple did not exhaustively investigate because no one was placed under oath, but that argument is possibly specious because by virtue of employment all employees are essentially under oath, especially when working on a sensitive project. Therefore all Apple need do is question the employees involved.
Thoughts?

When this whole thing started, I opined that Apple subpoenaed the websites to do their investigative work for them. EFF thought the same and took Apple to court. The judge agreed, simple as that.

If Apple is going to place an emphasis on secrecy, they need to clean their own house before threatening and/or taking legal action against these websites.

The real question is where in the hell is this Asteroid thingy.?

Quote

bryson wrote:
The real question is where in the hell is this Asteroid thingy.?

I thought the real motivation behind attacking the web sites was to intimidate them from publishing the rumors, and to imtimidate the employees, and less to find out who squealed. The question is, then, how effective was this strategy. The EFF is not, in my book, the most objective nor trustworthy source, as their agenda is rather narrow, and their focus is too narrow. I know a lot of people put a lot of stock in what they say, but they are one more special interest group that is spending too much time looking at their own navels, and comparing them with others...

Put yourself in Apple's shoes.
You have to choices:
1. subpoena the telco to get all the logs on every phone calls going out from apple's office. Interview, do lie detector test, or whatever craps on every single employees. Check the logs on every single copier machines and printers (assuming there's any. Oh, wait, what if the copying was done outside the office??). And do the checkings on every other means available to transmit information.

or, 2:
subpoena the website to release the source.

You do the math, how much efforts and money spend on choice 1 & 2.

p.s.: Apparently the EFF guys watch too much CSI..

Quote

Guest wrote:
Put yourself in Apple's shoes.
You have to choices:
1. subpoena the telco to get all the logs on every phone calls going out from apple's office. Interview, do lie detector test, or whatever craps on every single employees. Check the logs on every single copier machines and printers (assuming there's any. Oh, wait, what if the copying was done outside the office??). And do the checkings on every other means available to transmit information.

or, 2:
subpoena the website to release the source.

You do the math, how much efforts and money spend on choice 1 & 2.

From the article:

"Apple is required by the California Constitution and the First Amendment to exhaust all other avenues before launching such a legal action."

Apple chose to skip some required investigation before subpoenaing the web publishers.

According to California law they cannot do that.

As far as upsetting employees by asking them questions and investigating them, my comment is: Welcome to the world of corporate business.

I don't like it, but then I don't have to like it. The world is a tough place to live in, so get used to it.

Signed, JadedCorporateEmployee