To cut online chatter, Apple goes to court

Increasingly concerned about losing control of his product story in the face of the Internet’s echo chamber, Steven Jobs has chosen to sue several sites that traffic in Apple news in an effort to determine if his employees are leaking product information.

Because the lawsuits could potentially force courts to define what a journalist is and to broaden trade secret protection for corporations, Mr. Jobs has been bitterly opposed by public interest groups and some reporters, who cite Apple’s status as an underdog in the computer industry and the company’s role in creating new avenues for electronic media.

Read the complete story here. (New York Times)