Wow, that’s quite a reaction to our post earlier this evening saying that we will publish some of the confidential Twitter documents we’ve been forwarded. Nearly 200 comments in a little over an hour, mostly saying we shouldn’t publish. Hundreds of Tweets, and it has become a trending topic. There’s even a poll asking people if we should post the documents or not.
Let’s put aside the highly sensitive documents that we aren’t going to publish, but which will likely end up on the Internet anyway. We’re not going to post that information whether we have the legal right to or not. No discussion is needed.
But we are going to publish some of the other information that is relevant to Twitter’s business, particularly product notes and financial projections. Many users say this is “stolen” information and therefore shouldn’t be published. We disagree.
We publish confidential information almost every day on TechCrunch. This is stuff that is also “stolen,” usually leaked by an employee or someone else close to the company, and the company is very much opposed to its publication. In the past we’ve received comments that this is unethical. And it certainly was unethical, or at least illegal or tortious, for the person who gave us the information and violated confidentiality and/or nondisclosure agreements. But on our end, it’s simply news.
If you disagree with that, ok. But then you also have to disagree with the entire history of the news industry. “News is what somebody somewhere wants to suppress; all the rest is advertising,” is something Lord Northcliffe, a newspaper magnate, supposedly said. I agree wholeheartedly.
That doesn’t mean we are entitled to do anything we like in order to get to that information. But if it lands in our inbox, we consider it fair game. And if we have reason to believe it will be widely published regardless of what we do, the decision isn’t a hard one. We throw out the information that is sensitive or could hurt an individual, and publish what we think is newsworthy.
In the end, this is no different than, as an example, this 2006 post where we posted confidential Yahoo documents showing their valuation of Facebook in a proposed acquisition.
Nor is it any different than the WSJ publishing this internal Yahoo memo, which was also “stolen” in 2006.
And I believe it is significantly less of an ethical issue than Gawker’s posting of Sarah Palin’s private emails.
It’s not our fault that Google has a ridiculously easy way to get access to accounts via their password recovery question. It’s not our fault that Twitter stored all of these documents and sensitive information in the cloud and had easy-to-guess passwords and recovery questions. We’ve been sitting in the office for eight hours now debating what the right thing to do is in this situation. We’ve spoken with our lawyers. We’ve spoken with Twitter. And we’ve heard what our readers have to say. All of that factors in to our decision on what to post or not to post.
We are always in the delicate position of balancing what’s right for the community with publishing insider news that helped build this site into what it is today. We don’t sit around and republish press releases, we break big stories.
I feel bad for Twitter and I wish this had never happened. But it did happen and the documents are out there and they are going to be published somewhere on the Internet. Hopefully the embarrassing and sensitive stuff about individual employees will never see the light of day. And hopefully this situation will encourage Google and Google users to consider more robust data security policies in the future.
Update: Here is Twitter’s response.
Can someone clarify: So publishing stolen docs is legal, but buying stolen docs and publishing is not?
Not sure if I have a strong opinion on this either way, except to say that it “feels” wrong to see these published.
Ethically is wrong but journalism has always been a brave platform. That’s why they swaer freedom of speech and press and etc all around the world. In the spirit of reporting the truth.
- Darren at AdExcel dot Com
I dont believe it is still ethical. Maybe you could have tied up with Twitter, gotten an inside scoop and publish it, then it is fair and shows your ability of being close to Guys @ Twitter etc where as in this case it is clearly a case of stolen documents.
Someone else might have stolen the document but you getting a scoop here makes all of us suspicious and naturally so. Show some courage, dont publish these docs at all. You can easily forego a few pageviews and show class.
Also this is also not an excuse that if we dont publish someone else will. You never know if someone else will publish but for sure if you guys publish it, this will be out for all.
Mike, please don’t do it !!
I am more interested in the technical details of how the hacker did it, and what we all can do to prevent this in future. That will be public service from TC.
I second that… it would make for a more fascinating story for sure!
Jon
So, what do those projections say? Deadpool in how much time? Please tell…
Anyway, I am not bothered if its news about Twitter..
Well, the weakest link is usually an easy to guess password.
Twitter employees already proved in earlier incidents (remember the hijacked twitter admin account?) that they are pretty good in using easy to guess passwords.
No matter. Sooner or later this is gonna end up getting posted on some crap site like http://www.anonboard.com anyway
Google just handed Microsoft the “serious” enterprise for good.
Who in their right mind would use Google Apps for anything but the most mundane materials now???
The docs were stolen because Twitter was stupid enough to use a web service (Google Apps) to store what were apparently highly confidential information. All the hacker needed to do was figure out a user’s Google account password, which he apparently did, and he’s in. It isn’t Google’s fault; the user probably had a very weak password, and voila, once the hacker had it he was in.
What in the hell were they thinking???
Totally agree.
Michael wouldn’t do it, he will trade with twitter to get more exclusive news later. now he is bluffing.
What a bunch of whining hypocrites. Nobody complains when pictures of a prototype from their beloved Apple are stolen and published. These documents are much less damaging to the company in question, but since they’re also less interesting, it’s easier to jump to judgement on your ethics.
Well, yes, except that there’s a fair chance that some “leaks” from Apple are officially sanctioned, but made to look like leaks for the publicity value. This clearly wasn’t.
just another marketing stunt from twitter and techcrunch.. we are not stupid as you think!
Some of us are. Bring on the documents!
Thanks Larry and Page …
Give a lede–a who, a what, a how, a when, a where, a why–so I could have a clue as to what this is all about. I read four graphs of “Ethics 101″ only to feel as if I had walked in on someone ranting in a darkened room. By that, I mean no insult to any of the parties whoever they might be. My point is the low regard for readers the writing evidences.
I’ll admit it isn’t Shakespeare, but:
Who: TechCrunch
What: Will publish confidential Twitter documents
How: By pressing “Publish”
When: Yeah, that one had me too
Where: ON THE INTERNET
Why: I guess they could have stated this in a lede, but what’s the big deal? They give a detailed explanation. Deal.
The NY Times, in a story posted about an hour ago, clued me in http://is.gd/1A0ho and was, for me a good illustration of the great value of Old Media.
Don’t know about the US, but in the UK there is a “public interest” defence, meaning it is legally acceptable to publishing material even if it was obtained through dubious means. That’s why The Telegraph are not being prosecuted over the MP expenses publication.
However, what a lot of people forget is that “public interest” does NOT mean “the public are interested”. It means “in the best interests of the public”.
It would seem very much to me that these Twitter docs fall into the first category. Yes, you might find them interesting, but there’s no public interest justification for publishing them. Unless, of course, the docs say that Twitter are planning to infect the water supply, invade Canada, etc.
Nicely said Richrd, but if that was true, almost everything that was ever published here on TC had to be just discarded and never published.
This is a tech news site (as it’s name might imply), so most stories here are not about life and death (or water contamination), they are, well, about tech companies.
I think what Arrington is trying to say is that they are trying to pick out the important information out of the loads of gossip they have in their hands.
This info IS important for the tech industry. It might be (i don’t know what’s in there) VERY important to potential buyers, stock holders etc. If you also comsider Twitter’s users, you see that it is actualy in the public’s best interest to know at least some of it.
By the way (and excuse me for dragging politics to this debate), I’m an Isrealy and today i am furious at the BBC for publishing (in their top headline) a story full of dubious accusations about the Isrealy army, without bothering to check their facts. So tell me, how is that in the best interest of BRITISH public to “know” these things? How does the behaviour of Israely soldiers affecting British citizens? Journalists just publish whatever the hell they think will sell their product. Why should TC be different?
Okay I had to reply even though I said my peace already.
Bottom line: if this information is so relevant and important AND positive about the company, then why wouldn’t Twitter simply share it.
Probably because when confidential information is misinterpreted, misused or otherwise made public, it can and almost is damaging to a business.
If you are going to prove that the founders did something criminal, that’s news… But if not you might be looking at a lawsuit for knowingly and willfully publishing information that could be damaging.
If it’s not damaging then give Twitter a chance to break the news themselves, and let them give you the exclusive. If they don’t talk they MUST have a reason.
It’s Israeli, not Isrealy…Israel, not Isreal…you sure your from there?
Yeah, sorry about that. i’ve got quit a few mistakes and typos.
By the way, did you know? Israelis are not native English speakers. We have this thing called Hebrew here. It’s a whole different language, so in Hebrew you spell Israeli slightly different
I agree with Richard. Justifying this comes down to 2 things:
1. Intent
2. Social benefit
Intent is still up for grabs, but there is little social benefit to placing these documents into the public domain. I think overall, we’re worse off with these publicly posted. This informaiton wasn’t forfeit through cunning, connections, superior technology, research, etc. This was obtain through blatant theft.
m disappointed with techcrunch.. You can not call this as the right thing to do.
u r right….. it shud nt b
The issue is that these docs were actually ’stolen’ as opposed to leaked.
Leaked docs are docs the holder has possession of or as come across in the course of business.
Hacking an account and accessing private docs is totally different. Would you publish docs which were taken in the course of a burglary ????
Completely agree.
And to those who say they will be published anyway, that is no excuse. How ridiculous to even say such a thing. If Michael doesn’t publish them and others do, then he can hold his head high.
Michael, you will gain more publicity and respect for NOT publishing just because you can.
yeah u r right dude
Well this is no different from publishing the latest apple scoop leaked by an insider.
Go ahead and do it.
I am fine as long as you dont publish personal stuff.
just don’t tell which company and people it’s all about.
Let’s assume we’re talking about documents of a company named “gaggle”, lead by the two genies “ve” and “zib”.
you guys forget something….
twitter us a private company… twitter may/may not “own” the IP/docs (depending on where they were stored, terms of conditions, etc…)
if twitter is indeed the owner of the docs… and if the docs were actually “stolen” then anyone receiving the docs/distributing the docs might very well be charged with reciept of goods that were/are stolen. in some areas in the US, this is no different than if someone rips off your car, and i buy it, even if i don’t know it’s stolen..
in this case, TC as a corp/llc structure could perhaps be held liable….
this isn’t the same as somene getting “gov’t” docs and releasing them…
welcome to the world of ethics meets legal due process.
mike must have missed that law class…
and oh, mike, did you pass the bar?
You are 100% correct my friend. Twitter is in America so the laws DUE apply. I’m not sure where TC gets these completely pulled out of the as statements like:
“And it certainly was unethical, or at least illegal or tortious, for the person who gave us the information and violated confidentiality and/or nondisclosure agreements. But on our end, it’s simply news.”
No, it’s still stolen property, digital property.
u r right dude…………
Should TechCrunch release the Twitter private documents? http://vey.me/5180 #surveyme
I don’t know where Arrington got his law degree, but he must be unfamiliar with the concept of trade secrets and the fact that California Uniform Trade Secrets Act prohibits their misappropriation.
In Cal. Civ. Code 3426.1, misappropriation, in part, is defined as “disclosure or use of a trade secret of another without express or implied consent by a person who: (B) at the time of disclosure or use, knew or had reason to know that his or her knowledge of the trade secret was (i) Derived from or through a person who had utilized improper means to acquire it.
Either it’s one big circus orchestrated by Twitter’s publicists (anyone knows the company?) or TC is in for possible damages.
Mike, this is seriously wrong. You are encouraging theft and releasing seriously private info that no one at the company meant to get out. I’m really dissapointed in you and TC to even consider it.
image if you had said we re’d all these amazing docs, but we’re gonna do the right thing… Your cred would have shot up instead of looking evil just to get some more ad views.
ethically its illegal bt in 2day’s world of competition, everything is being done in order to make businees prosperous. Surely publishing sumeone’s confedential info is not legal bt who cares in this competitive world
So when exactly are you going to publish these so called confidential docs?
LOL, look at poor Ev’s last tweet: http://twitter....uses/2647935038
without any context, there’s no real indication he’s having a “bad night” because of any of this stolen data. Its embarrassing for a little while but it will quickly pass over and all will be forgotten just like so often happens in this biz.
If TC can find out who “Hacker Croll” is, then that is REALLY newsworthy
TC teaching ethics in the process of publishing stolen (not leaked) documents.
That was my thought as well. I’m really disappointed in TechCrunch.
Their argument maybe valid about how news happens but that doesn’t make it right.
It’s leaked not matter what. I don’t think TC asked anyone to hack Twitter or anything. Someone just send the documents to them.
It’s far more interesting that the documents will be available online according to the hacker and far more interesting that the documents were saved in the cloud etc.
so, taking that argument that TC didn’t ask croll to hack twitter makes it OK?
If someone steals your car and then sells it off to someone else who didn’t ask them to steal it, that makes it legal does it?
That’s why there are laws against it. Fencing and handling stolen goods, no matter HOW the theft occurred, is still illegal, no matter how you dress it up or sanitize it.
So… my dying uncle didn’t ASK anyone to go kill someone with a healthy, donatable pair of kidneys. If someone goes out with the intent to provide him with said kidneys, and presents them anonymously in an ice-filled box… is it ethical for the doctors to install the kidneys in good old Uncle Bob?
Not bloody likely.
Information may be different, but it’s still tainted.
leaked and stolen are the same, a document was taken from the company and given to some one with out the companies permission…
I think TC is doing the right thing, they are looking over the docs and deciding to publish only the ones that don’t contian personal info… Bravooo…
Leaked and stolen are not the same thing. A leak is when someone has legal access to the information and shares it with a third party who shouldn’t have it. Stolen is when someone who does not have legal access to the information acquires the information via subversion or brute tactics. In the case of the twitter data it is stolen. TechCrunch knows the data is stolen which is why many people see this as a move of a company with low ethic standards. It also speaks about the journalistic integrity of TechCrunch and Michael Arrington, or lack there of.
Dude, you must be Canadian to have such a confused notion between stolen & leaked.
And you must be American to not understand his clear explanation of the difference
WRONG. “Leaked” is a breach of an employees fiduciary duty and normally just a civil issue. “Stolen” is a criminal issue,
TC do your Karma…with self moderation
As long as the company is informed so they can take action and employee’s privacy is protected it’s the right way to go. Unpleasant but not wrong. I see it this way it’s better the record is set straight by a trusted blog that actually talked to the company beforehand then by some anonymous schmuck, possible with all kinds of falsified information.
Part of the ugly news business.
Really?
Do you think news organizations should inform companies if they plan to publish interesting or damaging information on them? I really hope they don’t because that makes it a bit to simple to keep “unfavorable” information out of the publics reach.
I wouldn’t except a news organization to do this for companies or governments. I don’t think we would be seeing any of this outrage if the company data being released was from Rio Tinto or another less popular company.
But now: sit back and wait for TC to release the documents!
umm, they almost always do request comments from the company or individual involved a short time before publication. Informing is very far from asking for permission.
Thou dost protest too much
no, just fascinated by the discussion. really.
I support your point, if you post anything then its a PR site and if you post stuff like breaking news then you are ahead! Though you should/may contact twitter once and make sure it does not damage them and if the informartion can be shared with your readers!
Certainly these are the sort of story to draw attention and create divergence in opinions. I am very glad that TC takes the extra steps in thinking and pondering (only natural and normal).
I must say that I agree with the overall feeling: stolen vs leaked…
At the end of the day it is a matter of win-win and burning situation: TC (as most news agency) must rely heavily on insiders. Their trust in you is a crucial part of obtaining illicit/hot/crunchy stories.
Publish or not publish; that should be weighted by how TC feels it will make their informers, collaborators, suppliers and partners (current and future) feel.
Journalism is not a big shout-box, but rather a conscious, tedious and meticulous work to bring to the light a trend, a story or simply a news…
If you do publish, please make sure you show us your work and your efforts to understand, analyze and prepare the data-set so that we all get A story out of it, otherwise it will be useless…
Wish you the best TC…
Oh please Mike.
You’re fascinated that something landed on your lap, and offset a week of the recession.
Looking Biz, Ev, Sara in the eye at the next gala should not be so easy.
Or you have indeed lost the last of the plot…
Mikey baby. I told you this last night so lets make it clear. If what you/TC has/will publish(ed) is not authorized by twitter then it is VERY unlikely you will find protection as a
news’ entity.
This is MUCH different than leaked information. Leaked information by an employee in many cases is not an illegal act. Part of determining the legality has to do with the employee’s access to the information. If they possess the information as a part of their job, and in the case of electonric files, have accessed them without hacking or unauthorized access then usually it would be a civil matter between them and the company – NOT a legal matter.
I’m starting to believe that TC/Mikey have been pulling our leg on this. I’ll bet TC had already discussed this with their legal team and had agreement from Twitter to publish a portion of the docs if the rest were kept secret.
I think Mikey is fascinated because he’s laughing at how this is helping TC and his career. Has the NYT called you yet Mikey?
* note * In above post I meant “NOT a criminal legal matter” when referring to leaked information vs. stolen information.
Example: you are in a meeting and your boss tells you about the next product release. You phone up TC and tell them. Thats a leak. Sometimes this might be an illegal criminal matter. Sometimes its a potential civil legal matter between you and the company because you signed a confidentiality agreement.
Sometimes it might just get you fired but isn’t a legal or criminal matter because you never had a shut up agreement.
Sometimes its just a ploy to get publicity.
But MOST OF THE TIME stolen information obtained by unauthorized access is one or more criminal acts falling under multiple federal and state statutes.
What sort of time-frame will the articles be published? Are you planning on sitting on them for a while – maybe to give twitter a chance to prepare?
Please give the poor guy a break http://twitter.com/ev . When someone falls, you don’t step on his head and laugh.
C’mon people – get off it. TC is still showing a LOT of restraint in that they are only selectively publishing stuff.
Just because Twitter is popular, you guys are going on and on. If these were, for example, Microsoft’s internal documents, I bet most people wouldn’t have that much of a problem.
C’mon Arrington, don’t keep us waiting all day and publish them already.
The wise man said it not who you know it who know you.
Editor Note: the wise man learn it from the fortune cookie.
Your argument is flawed. I unfollowed.
You are my hero.. such a James Dean Rebel without a cause…
exactly….
If u are intrested i can send a copy of a fully overtaken os. That had been a zombie if i havent stop it. The transformation of any os to win2000 server or wista 2003 server opens a lot of back doors that these thievs use to steal documents from people. or in my case remove vital components until it crashes. ofc after they have taken ehat they wanted.
regards
m00ns
You all need to relax… any publicity is good publicity… you all need to take your sticks out of your ass.. it was unethical to go to screw over Iraq’s for Oil but you all didn’t care about that and your mad about TC publishing some documents..
This is the internet.. most websites are unethical in some way.. get over it.. It is news.. this is why companies need ways to tag documents saying it cannot leave our servers.
If I am as big as twitter you better believe sensitive docs would never get out the front door… just me.. I believe in the boogyman and santa clause..
Humm..; I don’t feel confortable with this anyway.
There is a difference bitwin reporting news you find out and publishing news you got from a true pirate.
Why ? Because this is encouraging piracy, not the little one but the huge, painfull one, the type of piracy that cost millions of dollars to companies. This is not journalism but illegal and imoral matter ! Cpy-paste stolen information is NOT my view of what true journalism is.
No it encourages employers telling employees to send everything but the kitchen sink to TC… I am so going to get my mom who handles my accounting to email Mike my info…
Michael Arrington is my Shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul:
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’ sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: For thou art with me;
Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies;
Thou annointest my head with oil; My cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the House of Michael Arrington forever.
Okay… that is just creepy…
Another poll being taken! Make yourself heard
http://qulse.com/#q/17
This is no different than any major news network. Every single legit newspaper, magazine, or nightly news program has done the exact same thing. It’s called news! other wise you are just doing a copy and paste of press releases.
Yeah but don’t we kinda hope that the internet provides a better model of doing things – turns out if you ask people how they want their news outlet to behave (which is possible on the interwebs) they don’t want you to do it?
I def agree with the comments about that this fails the UK public interest test. It is clearly distasteful…
But having said all that – so long as we are happy hating journos – surely the publish what you like system kinda promotes free speech and protects the public by ensuring nothing is safe – so you better behave
Unfortunately, the internet has proven the opposite. Any fool can setup a blog and publish anything at all, including lies, stolen information, and irresponsible content.
These sites waffle between hiding behind the first amendment, freedom of the press, and then pretending its “opinion” when their supposed press shield doesn’t support their actions.
Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong.
Legit news turns down anything known to be stolen and only publishes certain items known to be leaked.
They do this in order to not participate in a crime. They do this to keep their companies out of court. They may or may not do it because its the eithical thing to do.
I know 2 real reporters and when I talked to them about this they both laughed at how lame the web has made the so called ‘news’ sites.
Their editors would never have approved publishing this information from a known theft.
IF however it had been pubilshed somewhere else or otherwise released it would be fair game (to a certain extent).
Too many people commenting on this site confuse the legal obtainment of information which is carefully weighed each day by legit news outlets with the publishing of known stolen information.
This is a real dick move guys. How do you expect people in the industry to respect you for what you’re doing? Sure it’ll be interesting, but at the end of the day it’s private information. Using the fact it’ll come out anyway to justify publication is like saying “if I don’t steal this car, someone else will”.
And yeah Google need to tighten up password security, but again that’s like justifying stealing a car because the alarm system was no good.
TechCrunch = gutter press
Hey guys, a free market needs to overcome information asymmetry.That’s what news are for. PLZ don’t mix infotainment with news. Something can only be new if masses don’t know and usually the information owner don’t wanna let others know what he knows.
On a political level it would mean that all investigative journalism shall be banned because they almost always start of with leaked information.
If you really want to stop information being published it seems anachronistic to me. Do we want to life in the age of infotainment or information?
Agree with you. What remains to be seen is not only “who keeps us from our keepers” as Aldous Huxley wrote but also “who’s going to keep us from those who keep us from our keepers”… A major problem in a society so dependent on the permanent flow of news and marcom manipulations of information. Still, vibrant journalism is essential to democracy and I agree with TC’s case even though I would probably not like to be in Evan Williams’ shoes or a member of the Twitter team today.
Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong!
Wow, how many times can you folks confused leaked information with stolen information?
Leaked information is provided to the press by someone authorized to be in its posession. PERIOD.
If a media outlet accepts and publishes information from a known hacking/theft then it is participating in a crime and can be prosecuted. PERIOD.
When TC gets a call from the DA’s office (are Twitter and TC in CA?) this will become a more serious situation.
It may not go that far. Its kind of up to Twitter or maybe luck. If the DA already has a bug up his ass about making an example of a company in this space then this could be a fun ride. Talk about news
You make a good case about it being “news.” I still don’t agree with your decision, but it’s good to know that, at least, you had seconds thoughts about it.
Examples of other unethical actions by other people don’t make similar actions right.
I think what you guys are scared of more than anything else is pissing off a lot of people and in effect turning them away from tech crunch, directly affecting your numbers and advertising income long term. Otherwise you would just publish everything now, sensitive or not.
Grow some stones and publish it all, radical transparency will turn out better in the long run for all concerned. But you’d better make sure your servers can handle the traffic you get!
Simon, this has NOTHING to do with transparency. TC is in posession of stolen information.
If you want Twitter to be ‘transparent’ well you have to ask THEM to publish, NOT TC.
I am floored by your assertion that encouraging theft of information = transperancy.
Maybe we should all start hacking businesses information and selling it/giving it to the “press” so it gets released.
What purpose would it serve? Other than the selfish interests of the theif and in this case the news outlet that decided to publish it. NO public good occurs here. TC gets traffic for a few days.
And overall, some idots on the web celebrate a criminal act. And some idiots encourage more criminal acts.
I don’t speak for ReadWriteWeb in any capacity, but as a blogger for a competing publication, I’d like to say that any writer would jump at the chance to publish this kind of thing.
I personally think Arrington and TechCrunch have done a more than adequate job of stopping to consider the ethics of the situation. My guess would be that the personal information they’ve said they will refrain from my publishing would be within the bounds of legality.
Surely whether any writer would jump at the chance to publish is irrelevant to the question of whether it’s the right thing to do. Most married men would jump at the chance to sleep with Angelina Jolie but it doesn’t mean their wives should think it’s okay.
The ethics are clear. Someone stole information and TechCrunch plans on using that information to make money. It’s rewarding law breaking and that creates moral hazard. Look it up, it’s why the economy is in the mess it’s in.
So are you saying that when traditional newspapers publish stolen or leaked (in the sense that the leaker does not own the intellectual property of the documents) every single day, they are doing it out of the goodness of their hearts and not to sell more papers?
So in all your detractor’s opinions, news agencies/sites should just sit around on their hands and wait for companies to give them something to print?
TC printing a product leak that came from an employee is the same thing as publishing these documents. They are both stolen. That employee surely signed a NDA so by leaking information to TC they stole it. Same thing.
Basically, what you all are saying is news agencies/sites should sit around and wait for a press release and then what? Write an opinion piece about it? That isn’t news. Not news I want to read anyways. I want to read the news that is giving me information companies don’t want me to know. Company leaks, stolen office memos, and hackers fuel the news. Face it and get over it.
Now, Mike, publish the docs please. I am getting anxious here.
What would Leo Laporte do?
Screw-screw you!
Oh good, this is rly bad for twitter.. Damn!
yeah, come on show’em
Techcrunch your right about news. Your wrong about the public goodwill and sense of ownership towards Twitter. Suggest third thoughts…
“A hidden danger in your home that may kill you. Stay tuned to find out how you can protect your family.”
Just post the stuff already. Enough tease.
come on. publish them. noow
If an employee leaks info, we feel as if – hey that’s the company’s fault if they can’t even control their own employees / have produced such a disgruntled worker. If a hacker steals the info against the will of everyone in the company who have worked so hard to build the product, we feel that that is a bit more disingenuous. Even if the employees should have picked better passwords.
It’s the hurting the big company vs. hurting all the little people perspective. Or so the disconnect in my case.
rightly said dear
If an hacker steals info, we feel as if – hey that’s the company’s fault if they can’t even control their own computers.
lamers who ever is whack enough to get their jack exposed should get it exposed. Lamer’s should have their lamenicity shown.. boo to twitter for its whack, newb lamer security flaw.
also twitter if you’re reading this your damn search doesn’t work for shit my gf didn’t show up in the results for 1.5 months after we added her account so i’m glad you got owned.. punks can’t even fulltext(usernames,userids,useremails) s000 LAME!!! go hire some real engineers and maybe they wouldn’t overlook newbie ass sec flaws.
lamers.
Poor Twitter, what a bad day for them.
This is just like any other scoop. Normally you wouldn’t even hear about how the scoop came about, now that people know they get all pissed off? God, you guys are like meat eaters getting turned off by seeing how a cow gets executed for processing. Get over it.
What you are saying ran is true but sad!
With this moral, every news agent would hire a hacker to gain private information and say they didn’t hack it, someelse did.
yeah u r right
That’s quite a big story in the UK right now (you knew, right?) Rupert Murdoch’s papers and others, have used private investigators [hackers] to get private information, including phone taps.
http://www.bloo...id=aBWEcKPSR2JU
oh and by the way TWIT’er don’t think your lamenicity hasn’t been talked about we hear that you put your site on that cloud provider with 1 db connected to a few virtual web servers and expected it to magically scale then called up the cloud provider when it didn’t… yes doofus’s cloud doesn’t mean a db magically scales via 1 db on a virtual server…. SO TWTITER WE KNOW YOU’re LAME newbie engineers need to get a clue this is just more proof of it.
lamenicity is at like a 10 your about to pop the flippin temp gauge on the ish
lamenicity.
So is TC going to publish their own equivalent docs for every doc that you publish on Twitter? I am interested in the financial projects and product notes of TC.
Arguments for publishing Twitter docs stand for publishing TC equivalents. You talk about transparency and public interest those same arguments apply to TC. Transparency that is good for Twitter is good for TechCrunch.
Or does TechCrunch talk the talk but not walk the walk?
Is there supposed to be retarded security breach at TechCrunch, is that what you ask?
Use your fucking mind, child. This isn’t nuclear arms reduction.
Personally, Arrington I think you suck. It’s no wonder you’ve gotten threats in the past.
TC, you’ve gone way down in my books now. A lot of the leaked info you get is just old school marketing. It is leaked, because these companies want it ‘leaking’, because that makes it ‘great news’.
However, this was blatantly from being hacked and I’m sure Twitter do NOT want this publishing.
Fine line between tech news and journalism glory has just been broken, well and truly broken.
Dude, sack up and grow some balls. Is tech news supposed to be only “promoting” tech companies? NO! Twitter’s plans are extremely relevant news, and something that should not be squelched. If they screwed up, its their fault. PUBLISH I SAY!
lol… well you told him.. bet mike torn up over that comment… seriously if you are going to trash him.. be orginal..
One idiot is like you are unfollowed.. and I want to ask the guy if he works as a fluffer in gay porn but after your comment I know you do..lol
Seriously.. it gets twitter more publicity. Is it annoying for twitter sure.. but what if it gets them a million more users…what if it keeps friendfeed out of the news..
The truth is the only part that might be annoying is they couldn’t plan the leak around a new friendfeed feature…
Most stories are leaked… it is just the way it is..
Gebadia, are we in a school playground now? Nope, it’s the TC comment section! No… wait, same thing.
Look, I agree with you Gebadia (after the gay porn bit at least)…
I did NOT say TC should NOT publish, did I???? They are, after all, journalist. Not all journalists go for this kind of unethical ‘news for views’ though. Tabloids vs Broadsheets. I just felt, this is a step too far for getting their name out there… oh… I mean in the name of tech news. Hmm.
That comment was for the guy above..lol.. (indent) I mess around a lot in comment boards..
I would hope someone hacks TC and does the same. I can imagine Mike would be twittering about how illegal it is…
March of the Angry TWITTERS!
YIPPEEEEEEEEEE!
Oh cmon, you’re all bashing TC for this but the truth is when they publish these documents, you will be the first ones to come and have a look at it!
Good job Michael, publish it!
All you people who are upset with this are the kind of people responsible for the fact that we don’t have real journalism in this country anymore. TC it totally in the right and its only a shame that they don’t publish it all. did you people also have a problem with Bob Woodward and Nixon?
Yeah exactly. Because publishing private Twitter documents is the same as revealing that the President of the United States of America colluded in political espionage and sabotage. Isn’t it?
+1
Maybe, or maybe not. Reporters report. If its relevant to the readers, they should publish. This is the real work, people. Just because it hit a little too close to home (Twitter lovers) you protest?! Lame.
its not “real work”. I hate Twitter, and I still dont think its right for this. But Mike is a douche, and will do whatever to make a name for himself.
“It’s not our fault that Google has a ridiculously easy way to get access to accounts via their password recovery question.” – and you think with that sort of ’security’ every man and his dog is going to go to Google for biz stuff? Phew!
…and isn;t that kinda like saying “I nicked your purse lady because the zip on your handbag wasn’t strong enough….not my fault gov”
hot british PR lady… everything is spin.. you are in PR.. you should know this.. if they can blame twitter they don’t make their IT people look like incompetent idiots..
blame google oops
Why do ya carry a purse to be nicked, luv?
Posting about your own post? Really?
Ethics 101?
If you *know* info was stolen how can it be ethical to publish any of it?
What gives you the right to decide what parts should be published?
What gives *you* the right to tell Michael Arrington what is ethical and morally acceptable?
Your lack of a shirt.
“It’s not our fault that Google has a ridiculously easy way to get access to accounts via their password recovery question”
This is the real story here. It’s Google you should be exposing – and TC has the power to make a difference here.
It’s really bad news for Twitter but I think people need to take a look at how the news works. Sensitive stuff is constantly leaked and reported on..
In the UK we’ve seen the leaking of the government politicians expenses and indeed the person responsible was not prosecuted by the police as the information was considered public interest. The shit-storm it created was gigantic and now we have resignations and criminal investigations.
This is the way it works and unfortunately you can’t pick and choose who you go for. If Arrington had decided not to publish any of this but subsequently published a leaked memo from Yahoo! saying it was crap you’d say he was favouring Twitter.
In your own comment, you’ve pointed out the difference between this and the expenses scandal – the information in the latter was deemed to be in the public interest.
Twitter financial projections and office plans definitely don’t fall into that category.
IMO, publishing this kind of commercially sensitive information could leave TC open to allegations that it wasn’t just given to them, but stolen to order.
Leaked != Stolen.
i’ll publish the docs watch
Lame twitter engineer 1 to Evan: “Hey we have 2 web servers and 1 db we have hard drives on the db server that are going 7200 rpm! that should be able to handle all the writes we will ever need”
Evan to lamer engineer 1: “wow 7200 rpm that’s faster than I can tac on my prius that’s so leet”
lame twitter engineer 2 to evan: ” hey one of the interns says we wont be able to scale with our setup and we should do something called data sharding…? i think’s he’s a fool cause i mean 7200 rpm on 1 drive! way faster than I can run!”
Evan to staff:”look guys we need a search feature”
staff to evan:” hey I got an idea how about we make it so people have to type in EXACTLY the right first name OR last name but not both and not update the index for 6 weeks”
evan to staff:”sounds good to me i mean we have 1 hard drive that goes 7200 rpm way faster than my bay2 breakers time!”
Leaked information already published here:
http://www.korb...r-la-suite.html
Obviously the hacker is french.
That french site only contains some info. The author said that he left out anything that would damaging to Twitter. Actually, it was a quite boring post with no real meat.
As long as the company is informed so they can take action and employee’s privacy is protected it’s the right way to go. Unpleasant but not wrong.
lamer engineer 3 to evan: “dude the intern that was talking all that guff about scaling is now giving me crap about security”
evan to engineer 3: “ok well give him a flashlight and tell him to wait at the front door for any hooligans and Michael Arrington”
lamer engineer 3 to evan: “problem solved!”
I think what the uproar is about is because so many people love twitter. They in some cases are passionate about it and would hate to see twitter staff go through this nightmare. And I know that I’d hate to see the TC staff contribute to the nightmare.
I understand this is just like someone leaking you some information but this time I think I and others will be disappointed. It seems there is good amount of people discussing TC’s decision to publish and that should tell you something.
Is publishing the documents worth the possibility that TC will have disappointed some of its readers and possibly losing readers?
I’d really like to see TechCrunch take the high road this time and leave this document publishing alone, but I don’t think that is going to happen.
Well i say.. rite on.. this is wht we like to see on techcrunch.. the exclusive.. common post it already..
Yeah mee to feel bad for twitter..
Fishing for excitement to the detriment of individuals is kinda foul to me.
Business strategies is one thing, personal data of individuals is another altogether.
Quoting Lord Northcliffe as a model of good journalism would be slightly more convincing if he hadn’t been a jingoistic propagandist who set up one of the most hateful newspapers in the Western World, the Daily Mail. He also deliberately manipulated British politics in order to depose one Prime Minister and enthrone another.
It is also quite likely that if he hadn’t died in 1922, he would have given similar instructions to the Daily Mail as those given by his brother, Lord Rothermere, who ordered the paper to support Mussolini and Hitler.
Not the best example to use to defend responsible behaviour by the press.
Got to agree, you’re saying “we’ll publish anything that people might be interested in, regardless of where that information comes from or how it was obtained,” which is exactly the argument that tabloids make when they write stories based on dubious and not-necessarily-correct sources. You could easily report that a hacker broke into and is distributing confidential corporate files from Twitter, and that really is news. Turning around and re-distributing those files under the guise of journalism is the worst kind of reporting; ignoring journalistic ethics in favour of what will bring readers to your site.
Do you think the material TC is publishing is possibly fraudulent? It seems like you’re clouding two issues: how TC got it and whether it’s true.
So what is your point? yes, the documents may be manipulated and it is dodgy to argue on their basis.
However, I find it most interesting in light of cloud computing that this case demonstrates the difficulties in getting cloud computing off the hook, since security issues are still very present. It seems processes and guidelines are missing defining how to operate safely when moving to the cloud.
To me it seems that there may be some fooled into believing that security is given as soon as you rely on “Google” or “Amazon”. However, missing the basics like strong random passwords and the like make it even easier to gain access to relevant information.
I don’t think the information in the documents is fradulent (although they easily could be by the time they end up in public), but I do think it’s not particularly newsworthy. It seems like the news here isn’t the contents of the documents, but the fact that the documents were stolen and released at all, and the circumstances under which that happened. A lot of countries lately, particularly the UK, have had problems with people’s medical records and other government records turning up in public. News agencies recognized the difference between publishing information about the record loss, and publishing the records themselves.
Besides, it’s not up to TechCrunch to decide what content is OK to publish based on their perspective of what is “harmful to the company.” Notes from a business meeting about potential features may mean nothing to end users, but they present a huge problem when the notes are stolen and published, and a month later another company releases a Twitter client that provides that feature because they got the idea from the leaked notes. Legally, TC is probably in the clear to publish whatever they want from these documents, but they’ve already stated that they won’t put out anything that “they” feel is sensitive, but they aren’t the ones to decide what’s sensitive; Twitter is. And if Twitter decides that every document is sensitive and potentially damaging if leaked to the public, then TC is going to have to suck it up.
me also agree with u dear….
I approve, Michael. Go ahead. When I was younger my mom used to tell me to pick up my toys or risk having them thrown out. Unlike you, however, she wasn’t so selective in what she threw out. You are too kind.