I've been pondering what about this whole mess it is that keeps mentally poking me. And the problem I have is the blatant hypocrisy of Arrington et al in the handling of this story.
The first post he made about this attempted to make the case that this was standard operating procedure, and really isn't anything out of line with the way things are normally handled. If that's the case, then why write a story talking about the fact that you've been given stolen documents containing large amounts of previously secret information. Then go on to say you won't post the personal information, and you're only posting the parts you find newsworthy.
If it's so normal, wouldn't you just post the stories, and mention that your source was some leaked documents you'd been given? You only do that if you feel you have something to justify, something to explain. In otherwords, you think you might be wrong.
So instead of handling this like they would any other source, for any other article, they've justified the source well in advance of actually using it. It's hypocritical and proves that all of this was just another stunt to drum up traffic.
Personally I'm done with TechCrunch. I won't follow links there, if I end up there by mistake, I'm closing quickly. I won't support this sort of blatant hypocrisy and grandstanding. It's not professional. It's not needed.
The first post he made about this attempted to make the case that this was standard operating procedure, and really isn't anything out of line with the way things are normally handled. If that's the case, then why write a story talking about the fact that you've been given stolen documents containing large amounts of previously secret information. Then go on to say you won't post the personal information, and you're only posting the parts you find newsworthy.
If it's so normal, wouldn't you just post the stories, and mention that your source was some leaked documents you'd been given? You only do that if you feel you have something to justify, something to explain. In otherwords, you think you might be wrong.
So instead of handling this like they would any other source, for any other article, they've justified the source well in advance of actually using it. It's hypocritical and proves that all of this was just another stunt to drum up traffic.
Personally I'm done with TechCrunch. I won't follow links there, if I end up there by mistake, I'm closing quickly. I won't support this sort of blatant hypocrisy and grandstanding. It's not professional. It's not needed.