By Joe Wilcox, Betanews

Apple can no longer remain silent about its CEO's health. This is no longer a debate about corporate responsibility or fair disclosure to shareholders. Now that Paparazzi are following Jobs and taking photos or videos of him outside the cancer treatment facility, Apple must respond. Silence is bad for Apple, bad for its shareholders and quite possibly damaging to Jobs' recovery. How would you feel about seeing your photos in the National Enquirer? How would it affect your cancer recovery?

Jobs announced indefinite medical leave from Apple on January 17. "My family and I would deeply appreciate respect for our privacy," Jobs requested. That clearly isn't happening. Yesterday, Radar Online posted a video of Jobs leaving the Stanford Cancer Center in Palo Alto, Calif. The video was shot 13 days earlier. Last week, the Enquirer published photos of Jobs outside the same facility. Out of respect to Jobs' recovery and privacy, I won't link to either the photos or video. You want to see them, Bing or Google.

I'm on record as saying Jobs' health isn't a private matter. He works for shareholders and has ethical obligation to them to report on his ability to effectively run the company. Hell, US presidents have annual checkups, which are publicly reported. Why not CEOs of public companies? But what's happening now trumps any debate about the extent of Jobs' privacy. He has none if Paparazzi photos and videos are popping up all over the Internet.

Stories supporting both the National Enquirer and Radar Online postings emphasized Jobs'