the daily snivel

  Apple babble at 3 am.

A couple of things regarding Apple have come into the news lately: first that Apple is suing "Nick de Plume," author of the website Think Secret, for spilling the beans on protected trade secrets via continuing leaks from employees and contractors bound by confidentiality agreements. Apple has so far been successful in its discovery motions, and while the story has a certain "David and Goliath" kind of charm that makes one want to, at first, side with the little guy, I think Apple is entirely in the right here and will likely succeed. Leaking trade secrets like the details to unreleased products is clearly an infringement of statutes intended to protect against such malfeasance, and trying to argue that you're a journalist and have free speech rights isn't helpful, because those protections don't extend to breaking the law. Nor should they. I feel precisely the same way about the arguments made by Robert Novak, Judith Miller and the New York Times when they try to defend themselves against having to reveal their sources in the government who attempted to illegally "out" Judith Plame in retaliation for her husband not going along with some of the worst lies about forged weapon of mass destruction claims about Iraq.

Daring Fireball has much more about the Apple's lawsuit and successful discovery motion.

The second item is that Apple has just pulled books published by Wiley & Sons, Inc. from the shelves of its chain of Apple Stores in an act of retaliation for its upcoming publication of an unauthorized biography of Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

Regarding this, I don't have much to say beyond, well, that's pure Steve Jobs. I think it's an incredible gesture of spite, but not one that surprises or outrages me, much as I disagree with it. That said, anyone writing the unauthorized biography of Steve Jobs must start chapter one with: "Steve Jobs is a singular control freak. He likes things done just his way and is infamous for this trait to the point that the verb Steved (as in 'to be Steved') has come into common usage and means that you were terminated with extreme prejudice because Steve Jobs didn't like the way you were doing things." If you write an unauthorized biography of Steve Jobs and don't put that in bold type right up front, you clearly haven't done your research. Unhelpful is the fact that the author of this book previously wrote a biography of Jobs in the 80s, which was decidedly unflattering. You can sort of sympathize with the big guy having a fit, though apparently the new book is comparatively gushy with praise, given how Mr. Jobs has revitalized Apple since returning to it in the late 1990s, when it was at risk of collapse.

Anyway, this story is rather a silly thing, and I hope the spat gets resolved soon. On the other hand, to those who would say this is in any way equivalent to the Microsoft decision to withdraw its support for legislation that would protect gays and lesbians from discrimination, or otherwise indicative of "big brother" tendencies at Apple, I say "suck it up." 

  This is Wonderland

One of my favourite shows on television is This is Wonderland, which airs on Tuesdays at 9:00 pm on CBC. It's about a harried team of legal aid lawyers working in the lower criminal courts at the Old City Hall courthouse in Toronto. Having spent a great deal of time in the criminal courts here in Ottawa during my two years at the Legal Clinic, I have to say the show is hilariously realistic. A lot of the research is done simply by going to the courts and watching what goes on. The slick, acerbic Crowns, the grumpy judges and justices of the peace, and the frazzled defence lawyers are all what you can expect to see. I love the look on the lawyers' faces as they attempt to grapple with the troubles of their clients, most of whom are variously bipolar, paranoid, pitiful, intoxicated, irrational, poor, indignant, vexatious, petty, and sometimes even innocent. Without being too glib or cynical, it really is a portrayal of what the practice is really like. Not really sexy, but fascinating and heartbreaking and rife with ethical problems and the many and sundry pitfalls of starting out in the criminal justice system. And absurdly, tear-jerkingly funny.

Meanwhile, I'm writing my Last Essay Ever(!) this week, on the topic of a right to legal aid in order to prevent wrongful convictions. I start the Bar Admissions Course on Monday, which is just a whole new drawn out rigamarole of exams and assignments to keep me from having too much fun, but on the bright side it's the last leg in my journey to my own little piece of the criminal practice, because after Bar ads end in August, I get to start articling at a criminal law firm in September and wrangling with the issues brought out by clients of my own (and the many many lawyers I'll be helping out). 

  Did somebody say free music?

For those of you who use iTunes (and for those of you who do not, now is a great time to install it and start -- all you need is a Mac or Windows 2000/XP), there is a great song posted this week on the iTunes Music Store that can be downloaded for free as Apple's song of the week. It's called "Sway" by The Perishers, and is really very catchy and swell. And free. Don't forget free.

It can be accessed from the front screen of the Music Store. Get it while it's hot. 

  Warning to Mr. Harper

Don't hitch your party's prospects too closely to George W. Bush's popular, values-based ideology. From the Washington Post:

Do you approve or disapprove of the way Bush is handling:

                          Approve    Disapprove

A. Social Security     31        64
B. Iraq                     42        56
C. Economy             40        57
D. Terrorism             56        41
E. Energy Policy       35        54

...

Which party better represents your personal values?

Democrats -   47%
Republicans - 38%

Even the Americans, God bless 'em, are starting to get it after years of just taking it. The sort of big-business, social-conservative "values" that conventional wisdome says swept the election by that stunning two percentage port is now just giving way to a sobering cold rush of buyer's remorse. If I were a Conservative in Canada, I'd sit up and take notice. This stuff may play well in the sticks (OK, Alberta), but it gives me a warm fuzzy to think that people can and do smarten up when they realize how bankrupt and self-serving the far-right's ideology is.

Thanks to Daily Kos. 

  Uh oh

Most people don't realize that there is a strong correlation between your band dressing in black and wearing top hats and the rushing approach of the end of the line. That's right, it's as though pseudo-goth pretensions propel you upwards and onwards right over the shark. It took Billy Corgan straight to the Zwan-dom, banished the Stone Temple Pilots to the Phantom Zone, and I don't like the unhealthy look Green Day is sporting these days, neither. Meanwhile, I see this promotion on iTunes today, and I clutch my chest and hope this isn't the beginning of the end for the White Stripes.

Only time will tell. 

  Ehx-cellent!

Looking delightfully evil here is Pope Benedict XVI, aka Cardinal Ratzinger, aka Mr. Burns, aka The Emperor.

Long may he reign.

There. I said it, and now all you guilty lapsed Catholics can all stop thinking it.