Tech Crunch is a website that was founded to be a source for reviews and news about new Internet products and companies. Since its inception in 2005, as described in the "about" section on their site they have since morphed into "a network of technology focused sites offering a wide range of content and new media." According to this article, Tech Crunch intercepted various pieces of information that were confidential Twitter documents stolen by hackers. There were 310 documents in all, consisting of "everything from growth projections to job applicant resumes to personal credit card numbers." The company announced it had possession of the documents and that it intended to post some of the hacked information. This led to a big Internet controversy about the ethics of publishing such ill-gotten information.
According to our class studies, we know that Tech Crunch could be sued for Invasion of Privacy/Publication of Private or Embarrassing Facts, depending on the information they choose to publish. According to Sam Bayard at the Citizen Media Law Project, the possible laws that could be broken by Tech Crunch in this type of move could be threefold: trade secret misappropriation, invasion of privacy and receipt of stolen goods. Bayard says that to date Tech Crunch appears to be clear of any immediate lawsuits or charges. I find it nteresting what Tech Crunch could be in violation of with publication. I'm lucky this one wasn't on the Media Law Exam, because the only issue I would have forseen would have been Invasion of Privacy.
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