Ethics on the Internet/Apple App Store

A couple years ago some applicants to MBA programs got into deep trouble when they followed the advice of an internet posting on how they could access hidden pages on the ApplyYourself website. The link allowed them to see whether they had been accepted to the school or not a little earlier than the schools meant for them. One person characterized it as "sneaking a peek at your Christmas presents early" while others viewed it as a very serious breach of ethics. I fell somewhat in-between, but more on the side of it not being a huge crime. One thing is that the code for the pages being viewed was available by looking (view source code); the software developer had made an error. On the other hand, it was pretty clear that the applicants should not have been seeing the letter early, so they should have known better.

So today I have been trying to access the App Store in iTunes to see what cool things would be available for the new iPhone. I downloaded the newest version of iTunes, but I could not find the App Store anywhere on it. Then I found this story on the internet and sure enough the author was kind enough to include a link that took me to the App Store in iTunes.

Now given that the iPhone is not on sale until tomorrow, have I done something wrong?

There are some pretty cool apps that will be available.

And knowing Apple, if they had not wanted me to see the App Store, they would not have made it available, period. But why isn't it available for viewing on iTunes 7.7?