Apple Thoughts: Wiki Owner Needs Constitution Lesson; Hopefully Will Win

"The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed suit against Apple Inc. today to defend the First Amendment rights of an operator of a noncommercial, public Internet "wiki" site known as BluWiki. [...] Late last year, after BluWiki users began a discussion about making some Apple iPods and iPhones interoperate with software other than Apple's own iTunes, Apple lawyers demanded removal of the content. In a letter to OdioWorks, the attorneys alleged that the discussions constituted copyright infringement and a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's (DMCA's) prohibition on circumventing copy protection measures. Fearing legal action by Apple, OdioWorks took down the discussions from the BluWiki site."

There's a common misconception among people who don't know any better that you have a right to say whatever you want whenever you want and no one can abridge it because it's in the constitution. That's simply not true. The constitution specifically says that Congress cannot abridge your free speech, not a private entity (in this case Apple). If that's the basis for this guy's case, he could end up getting his butt handed to him in court.

That being said, I hope he wins; not on constitutional grounds, but on the grounds that I hate it when companies try to shut up the little guy by sending lawyers after them. Here's to hoping.