Re: How Apple orchestrated web attack on researchers

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "RJR RJRiley.com" <RJR () RJRILEY com>
Date: March 26, 2007 7:24:01 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: RE: [IP] How Apple orchestrated web attack on researchers

 Dave, for IP if you wish.

It seems to me that Victor Marks is missing the key problem here.  The
problem is that just like other aspects of their business they pulled  
a real
dirty on the people who discovered the vulnerability.  They apparently
intentionally smeared the researcher's names and did their best to  
destroy
the reputations of the researchers.  It looks like it was a coldly
calculated attack meant not only to discredit these specific  
researchers but
also to send a message to others.  I believe that George Ou is  
correct, that
I the future that researchers should broadside Apple because Apple  
has once
again shown their true colors.

How are people who bought into the iPod cult going to react when they
discover that the music they purchased is not portable and that their
investment is lost?

Apple has a rep in the inventor community as a company who has  
learned all
of Microsoft's tricks.  It is common knowledge in our community that  
it will
take litigation to extract virtually any compensation from Apple.   
They are
another company which is a capitalist when selling their products and
socialists when dealing with inventors.

I submit that their high profits nowadays are based on savvy PR which  
has
cultivated a cult like community and not innovation.  If one looks at  
the
iPod with a critical eye it quickly becomes apparent that it was  
built on
pirated technology.  Apple lost its innovative edge long ago, well  
except of
innovative PR.  They are another tech company who is well past their  
prime,
and they are on the same course as the auto industry.

As companies age they all lose their ability to invent anything  
significant.
Typically such companies initially bully those who do invent,  
resulting in
them getting their tails kicked by one of those bigger than life  
mythical
patent trolls.  Some mature and embrace inventors while others like  
the auto
industry soundly reject dealing with inventors.

So what is the result when a company cannot invent anything significant
themselves and they acquire a rep for being disreputable with inventors?
Isn't stagnation and company failure inevitable?

I submit that Apple sees the handwriting o the wall, and that is why  
Apple
is a member of the Coalition for Patent Fairness, better known as the
Coalition for Patent Piracy.  This is the group which we believe has  
spent
something in the vicinity of ten million dollars on a vicious PR  
campaign to
paint their victims as "trolls", but then it is common for bad  
players to
smear their victims as a tactic to cover their disreputable tails.

What surprises me about this is that the majority of journalists are  
buying
PR hype and spending very little time digging for the real story.


Ronald J. Riley,

President - www.PIAUSA.org - RJR at PIAUSA.org
Executive Director - www.InventorEd.org - RJR at InvEd.org
Senior Fellow - www.PatentPolicy.org - RRiley at PatentPolicy.org
Washington, DC
Direct (202) 318-1595 - 9 am to 9 pm EST.





-----Original Message-----
From: David Farber [mailto:dave () farber net]
Sent: Monday, March 26, 2007 4:12 AM
To: ip () v2 listbox com
Subject: [IP] How Apple orchestrated web attack on researchers



Begin forwarded message:

From: Victor Marks <victormarks () gmail com>

Could someone explain why I should be surprised about PR reps defending
their employer, and explain why George Ou and the two Month of Apple  
Bugs
guys are right to believe that bugs should be openly disclosed?

What is more important, that software vendors fix vulnerabilities, or  
that
reporters of vulnerabilities get recognition?

Regards,
Victor Marks




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