Did you know that Apple allegedly pays off Mac rumor sites to NOT report rumors and speculation prior to big company announcements?

That’s the word on the street!

“In regards to the WWDC rumor question, it’s a widely known “secret” that Apple pays for the silence of various Mac news web sites by having those sites advertise WWDC. They also post Apple-approved WWDC stories and, by signing contracts with Apple, guarantee they will not speculate about WWDC. The sites then get product from Apple based on the number of click-throughs they generate.”

I’d link to the article if I could, but there doesn’t appear to be a direct link anywhere at MacInTouch.com.

Go to the search form, search for “wwdc rumor” and set the date to “is after 05/18/2005”.

One such site getting some hot Apple payola is MacMinute, currently sporting a specially-formatted link back to Apple prominently placed at the top of their site.