Mark Evans

A Letter to The Register: Scoble vs. Orlowski

The controversy over whether or not Robert Scoble confessed there were problems with the IE7 beta has prompted venture capitalist Rick Segal to send an e-mail to The Register, which employs Scoble nemesis/accuser Andrew Orlowski. Segal is asking for The Register to examine the legitimacy of an e-mail Orlowski allegedly received from Scoble. Scoble, however, contends the e-mail is a forgery, which is a legitimate claim given how easy it can be to spoof e-mail addresses. Segal wants The Register to do the right thing and determine if Scoble's claim is true. If Scoble is right, then The Register has to retract and/or amend Orlowski's stories to reflect that a key piece of information was, in fact, fiction rather than fact. “Under the UK's Code of Practice, it would appear that some further work on your part is warranted,” Segal wrote in a letter to The Register. “I'd like to request that the The Register look into this e-mail story further and attempt to validate the email in question or at least provide readers with Scoble's denial.” If anything, this is a fascinating issue on several fronts. It puts the legitimacy of e-mail from “sources” into the spotlight; it focuses attention on the pissing match between Orlowski and Scoble, and how the blogosphere encourages/permits/facilitates these kind exchanges, and whether they should be seen as positive or negative; and its puts the ball into The Register's court to investigate this issue.
For another take on the controversy, check out Thomas Hawk and Technovia.