Nicholas M. Ciarelli (born September 5, 1986)[1] is an American journalist and was Editor-In-Chief of Think Secret, a website he started in 1999 at the age of thirteen and ceased publishing on December 20, 2007 after reaching a settlement with Apple.
[3] When news spread that Apple Computer had filed a lawsuit against Think Secret, followers of the Mac rumors community began to wonder who 'dePlume' actually was.
[6] Ciarelli's ongoing legal battle with Apple has been covered by The New York Times,[7] The Washington Post,[3] The Boston Globe,[8] and the Associated Press,[9] among other news outlets.
[6] Ronald Lutheran, Ciarelli's high school math teacher and a longtime family friend, called his former student an "extraordinary kid with a very good sense of humor."
[10][full citation needed] Ciarelli was a contributor[11] to The Daily Beast, the current affairs magazine site launched by former Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown.