By AppleInsider Staff

Rather than acknowledging a major hardware glitch that has been known to cause repeated logic-board failures with its dual USB line of iBook consumer portables, Apple seems to be taking an unethical standpoint on the matter.

It appears that the company has once again resorted to deleting customer's comments on its online discussion boards. "This morning I posted a message regarding the failure of the logic board in my 14" iBook. The post is no longer online as of this afternoon and my profile now states that only one of the two posts I have made is online!," claims one AppleInsider reader. According to the reader, the post contained no profanity of foul language, but simply presented an account of his current situation. Followup postings on subject were also removed "within a matter of minutes."

This is not the first time that Apple has engaged in such a practice, which only fuels consumer dissatisfaction to new levels. In 2002 the company began removing posts from disgruntled iTools users and proceeded with the same behavior earlier this year on the subject of defective Apple power cords.

BlackCider, a privately own site, is seeking to pursue the issue of faulty iBooks with a class action suit against the computer maker. The site collected over 100 signatures this past weekend from supporters experiencing identical issues. Meanwhile, a second petition now lists over 325 signatures on the same issue.