John Hancock asks for ComputerWorld story to be taken down

Financial services company John Hancock has asked tech publication ComputerWorld to take an article off its web site, according to the Boston Herald’s Jesse Noyes.

Noyes wrote, “But Computerworld’s Editor-in-Chief Don Tennant is refusing to bring down the article despite getting a warning of an impending cease-and-desist letter.

“‘Basically we found it a very interesting case of trying to muzzle us as journalists and I tried to explain…that it’s just not going to happen,’ Tennant said.

“The article was about John Hancock rolling out a new storage appliance to handle blackouts in its computer systems.

“Tennant said the John Hancock lawyer told him in a telephone conversation that the story revealed confidential information and that the reporter, Lucas Mearian, needed to obtain legal consent to post it.Â

“But Tennant believes John Hancock’s real concern is centered around quotes from one of the wealth management’s IT heads, revealing finger-pointing often ensued between the group’s tech departments when things broke down.”

Read more here. The story in question is here.