Media seek release of SCO / IBM documents
Three media companies have approached the judge in the SCO vs IBM trial to ask for access to documents that have been submitted to the court. The companies’ attorney, Andrew Stone, says that the documents were filed in secret, but that the court never ruled on whether they should be kept secret. The court, it is claimed, should either explain why the documents are to be kept secret, or else establish a process for deciding which documents and information should be released to the media.
Both IBM and SCO objected - the latter less so - claiming that the documents could constitute sensitive and confidential business information that they don’t want disclosed to “actual and potential” competitors and other third parties. The media outfits petitioning for disclosure are Forbes inc., CNet Networks inc. and G2 Computer Intelligence Inc.
The media trio are an interesting alliance; their motives are not obviously overlapping, but their aim is. It would be in the interests of Forbes and CNet to be better informed in order to attempt to predict the possible outcome, but for different reasons.
Forbes is primarily part of the business press, and thus is probably most interested in helping its readership decide which of the two companies is going to come out less financially scathed and therefore which is least likely to hurt their shareholders accounts. CNet, on the other hand, focuses on tech news and is probably more interested in drawing its readership’s attention to issues concerning tech customers and developers, such as the indemnification and future Linux development.
G2 probably have similar motives to CNet; however, Groklaw have focused on G2’s part in proceedings, accusing them of being “SCO’s buddy” and trying to “out” IBM in public.
The story has been quite widely covered, with a syndicated article from Associated Press cropping up at sites for The New York Times, The Sydney Morning Herald, and, amusingly, Forbes itself. You can read more about it: