First, I love using twitter and I think the guys that built it are great. They've created a product that means so much to people that many members on this site are willing to stand on shaky ground saying these documents shouldn't be published simply because they belong to a company they like. Internal documents are leaked all the time. For instance, Arrington reported that Microsoft's new search engine would be called Bing long before Microsoft announced this fact. How many of you chase Apple rumors before a keynote? This is all leaked information. Where's the outrage?
The standard for the press publishing information isn't malfeasance. Twitter need not have done anything wrong for the press to publish information that is of interest to its readers.
Arrington has drawn a line that companies are different than private citizens (who he feels should have some expectation of privacy). He is not releasing personal information that may hurt someone's career, merely information about twitter's potential future tv projects, business models, and projections.
The fact is he has gone about this in an extremely ethical way, acting as both reporter and ombudsman. He has censored portions which might do someone harm and has no doubt agreed to censor certain bits of information on behalf of twitter. However, he will publish as much of the information that is relevant and interesting as he can. In my opinion, this strikes a good balance.
First, I love using twitter and I think the guys that built it are great. They've created a product that means so much to people that many members on this site are willing to stand on shaky ground saying these documents shouldn't be published simply because they belong to a company they like. Internal documents are leaked all the time. For instance, Arrington reported that Microsoft's new search engine would be called Bing long before Microsoft announced this fact. How many of you chase Apple rumors before a keynote? This is all leaked information. Where's the outrage?
The standard for the press publishing information isn't malfeasance. Twitter need not have done anything wrong for the press to publish information that is of interest to its readers.
Arrington has drawn a line that companies are different than private citizens (who he feels should have some expectation of privacy). He is not releasing personal information that may hurt someone's career, merely information about twitter's potential future tv projects, business models, and projections.
The fact is he has gone about this in an extremely ethical way, acting as both reporter and ombudsman. He has censored portions which might do someone harm and has no doubt agreed to censor certain bits of information on behalf of twitter. However, he will publish as much of the information that is relevant and interesting as he can. In my opinion, this strikes a good balance.