Golfers had TigerGate---the tale of the horny golfer --- to keep their office water cooler talk hopping, and now gadget geeks have GrayModoGate --- the tale of the drunken Apple engineer. I usually go to US Weekly for my gossip fix, but not anymore. I’m all about the tech blogs these days. There is no logical reason for me to be writing about this topic- other than the fact that I can’t stop thinking about it.

To summarize, a prototype of the next generation walks into a bar, gets lost, gets found, gets sold, gets dissected, gets published, and then, to top it off, its temporary home gets raided by the cops.

Gizmodo has literally opened Pandora’s Box and, as a result, has to deal with the wrath of Apple’s legal team. I’m sure that there will be some very valuable leadership lessons learned here.

From Apple’s perspective, I think that they should have thought a little bit more about their reaction. It would strike me that raiding the home of one of your biggest evangelists ---or at least the guy who speaks to all of your biggest evangelists --- is not smart. Clearly, this is not going to leave a lasting bruise, but it is, as Jon Stewart pointed out, a little 'big brother'esque.

I’m not saying that Gizmodo is in the right here, or the victim. Quite the opposite, I think that paying $5,000 and prematurely letting the cat out of the bag is a little sleazy. Additionally, I have a hard time arguing that the interest of the public was served (which is what the Gizmodo lawyers are 'allegedly' doing). This would be arguing like arguing that the public good is served when the paparazzi stalk Tiger. Sure, we may like seeing pictures of him in a hoodie at a sex rehab center, but that doesn’t make it right.  Some things are private: whether private from a corporate perspective or a personal perspective. And as long as the public isn’t harmed by corporate secrets, they should remain so.

And we’re not in the clear either. We’re the ones who pay for the tabloids and we're the ones who derive pleasure from finally hearing about the future from someone other than Steve Jobs. And then we blog about it.