Apple Asked for Probe into Stolen iPhone 4G
Prosecutors have halted the examination of Jason Chen's computers pending discussions with Gizmodo's lawyers.
Over the last two weeks, the tech world has been closely following the story of Gizmodo and the iPhone 4G. Earlier this week, editor Jason Chen's house was raided by police and several computers, cameras, hard drives and an iPhone were taken from the premises.
Right now, everyone is trying to decide whether or not a blogger counts as a journalist and if so, should the same laws that protect journalists protect bloggers. These laws protect a journalist's workplace (in Chen's case, his home) from searches, but if the journalist engaged in illegal activity, these laws do not apply.
However, a lot of people are asking if Apple somehow had a hand in the fact that there's any investigation to begin with. An article in the San Jose Business Journal suggests that Apple was the one who requested the probe into the "lost" iPhone 4G.
The San Jose Business Journal yesterday cited officials who said the criminal investigation into the purported theft of the Apple prototype came at the request of Apple. The Business Journal goes on to say that officials have identified and interviewed the person who took the phone from the bar where Apple engineer Gray Powell lost it. Officials did not say whether or not the person who took it from the bar was the same person who sold it on to Gizmodo.
Right now, the situation is this: Jason Chen has hired a top criminal defense lawyer and prosecutors are said to be defending the raid on Chen's house. CNet reports that Stephen Wagstaffe, chief deputy district attorney, said prosecutors had considered whether reporter shield laws applied to the search and seizure but decided to proceed after carefully reviewing the rules.
"My prosecutor who is handling it considered this issue right off the bat when it was being brought into him and had some good reasons why he and the judge felt the warrant was properly issued," Wagstaffe said.
Gawker maintains that the search warrant is invalid because Chen should be protected by journalist shield laws and prosecutors have voluntarily agreed not to search Chen's computers while discussing the matter with Gizmodo's lawyer.
- 3G Version of iPad Now Shipping, Jobs Confirms
- Ubuntu 10.04 LTS DE Offers Music Store, More
- Enter Our Tom's Guide Power Challenge Contest!
- Boy Scouts Can Now Earn Video Games Badge
- Network Admin Charged for Hacking City Network
- Super Mario World HDD Shaped Like SNES Cart
- Polaroid Making Game Accessories
- Hulu, Firefox Mobile Apps for Android Spotted
- Retail Sources Say Black Wii Coming May 9 (or 23)
- Cobra Promises Flexible Mobile Gaming
- Dadahack TAP3 Brings Old-School to MP3s
- Orbis: The Portable Segway
- 38 Infinity Ward Employees Band to Sue Activision
- Dedicated Halo 2 Fans Refuse to Let Game Die
- Comcast Wins 'Worst Company in America' Award
- Jon Stewart Slams Apple over Gizmodo
- Are Phone Manufacturers ''Abandoning'' Android?
- HTC Expecting to Make Big Bucks Due to Android
- iPhone Tethering Stalled Over Traffic Woes
apple sucks
way to harsh he wa just takin a look at iphone i meen comonm
For god sake Apple, so your phone leaked, big deal! Oh no free publicity! ...I'm really sick of Apple's behavior lately.
not leaked...stolen, sold, and tampered with. If someone steals my property,, i'd ask for a probe at minimum.
Screw you, Apple.
We put up with you constantly ripping us off but this is a new low. No company should have enough sway to order a raid on someone's home simply for PR.
hopefully they dont find all those torrents! like someone else said on another forum "United States of Corporate America"
Why did he post his face along with the iphone he just made himself a target of apple!
not leaked...stolen, sold, and tampered with. If someone steals my property,, i'd ask for a probe at minimum.
How was it stolen?
Fuck the Apple right to the core.
Simply put, if you purchase property from someone that doesn't maintain rightful ownership of said property, you're an idiot. Dude should have treated that Iphone like a nuclear weapon and got as far away from it as possible.
I absolutely detest Apple and about 99.9% of the stuff they do, with that said, it is their property that is being passed around like a joint. This is going to set nice example for any future mishaps. If it doesn't belong to you, keep your freaking hands off.
This confirms my suspicious that Steve jobs is a virgin.
Apple may rip some of you. I don't know about that. I, on the other hand pay for what I want or can afford, be an Apple product or a PC component. Please, don't pretend here anyone is representing weak victims. When I want a good case, better than average or with special features or a premium CPU or memory for my PC, the only way to get it is paying a premium price, if I am willing or I have the money. As a matter of fact Intel, ATI or NVIDIA and almost everyone ask you a good premium price for the last 20-30% of performance or distinction. And so it goes with most things beyond the computer world. What if you don't like a product or don't appreciate what it offers? Usually when everybody is shopping there is more not to like than to like. Someone may feel a product don't offer a good value and if that's the case that person won't buy it again.
As for the "stolen" iPhone prototype the best I can do is wait because at this time there is no enough information to make a final statement in favor or against Gizmodo or Apple.
Do I feel compassion for Jason Chen? Yes
Do I feel sorry for the guy who lost the prototype? Yes
Do I feel Jason did something not so smart? Yes
Do I think Jason was acting to protect the people's rights to be informed? No
But do I know the truth? No I don't
And I am not going to be so naive and pretend a big american corporation like Apple will stand still. Apple is a company very well known for their secrecy on new products, like it or not. And that becomes their right. Also, I have no reason to believe that the police is acting just on the Apple side. Apple is not the puppet master and the rest of the people are not victims per se. This is not the inquisition for those who don't like Apple and neither for those who pray for Apple. On the other hand there is a lot to be concern here. This is a serious issue and I think most people would want Jason to walk away very soon and clean from this but it looks not that simple.
Apple is seriously a low douche bag company. One of your own idiotic apes looses a prototype, and now they are requesting raids and such? Is it not their own responsibility to protect their product and to make sure that it does not get out before they want it to. How ridiculous, because of things like this I HAVE/WILL NOT EVER be a apple customer.
wait, so some people actually believe apple lost the phone on accident?
Apple asked police to investigate the purchase of lost property. I don't see anything wrong with that. It was the police who raided the home, not Apple.
Any company would do the same, I'm not sure why anyone would think Apple is any different.
This is LOST property, not stolen. As such, Apple has first claim to it before anyone else. Laws state that the finder has claim to before ANYONE else BUT the true owner. I don't know about the person BUYING LOST property, but I sure know that the person who found it should not have sold it without trying to contact Apple.
Still, this and the engineer who got fired for showing Wozniak the iPad 3G exemplify why people (myself included) despise Apple.
maybe i am being dense on this but..... isnt it true if you LOSE a item (which a apple tech did do) and someone else finds said item I would think it would become your item. If i lose my cell phone I could call police but chances are there not gonna care. But if I am a major corporation and I lose a item I can call the police and they will go and arrest someone. I guess i am lost to what this dude did wrong HE FOUND A PRODUCT that does not mean he stole it he then sold this product to someone that dint make it wrong doing he didn't work for a competitor and there is no corporate espionage to me this is just a case of apple screwed up and is pissed about it so lets randomly attack people kinda thing
I still heavily doubt the idea that the guy 'lost' it in the first place. He's not getting fired, really? Still smells funny.
next up apple will accidentally e-mail their source code for the iPhone OS to HTC, then send the police round to break down their door and confiscate all their computer equipment
they make it sound like the dude sneaked onto the apple campus and made off with the prototype or even lifted the damn thing out Mr Powell's pocket
come on people if you forgot a phone, chances are you've lost it, if your lucky someone might have handed it into the police but 80% the time you'd expect that it's a lost cause get the phone blocked and go and get another one, once the phone is wiped it has no real value, and yes there is a part of me that does sympathize with people who lose their stuff, but really if your that careless then maybe you should not be leaving the house with such expensive gear
The person that found the phone tried to give it to apple and apple thought it was a chines knockoff and didn't take it so it wasn't stolen. It was rightfully his.
not leaked...stolen, sold, and tampered with. If someone steals my property,, i'd ask for a probe at minimum.
if u see a hundred dollar bill on the ground, I am 99.999999% sure u will just pick that shit up and stick it into your pocket.
so yeah kiss my ass jackass.
Not to mention the idiot took a prototype out of the office. How stupid can you be. That right there should be more then enough grounds to fire the guy. What proof do you have it was actually stolen, none.. It may not have been properly returned like it should've but to say stolen is rather harsh.
All parties in this are in the wrong, Apple employee most of all, or apple itself if it don't have rules about taking prototypes out of the office. This should be a simple matter of apple getting the phone back, and then everything else should simply go away plain and simple.
Apple asked police to investigate the purchase of lost property. I don't see anything wrong with that. It was the police who raided the home, not Apple.Any company would do the same, I'm not sure why anyone would think Apple is any different.
does the phone saids its property of Apple ?
I bet Cops wouldn't raid someone's home if my friend's "lost/someone steal his Ventu Ferrari phone. which worth a lot more than that 5K Apple iGarbage prototype.
I really dislike apple, they are champions of the mediocre gadget that they market for people who dont have a clue.
Who in the world would take a top secret prototype out of the office? And second, it's not worth the time or money to mess with Apple. Should have been smart to just contact someone at Apple, meet somewhere secretly, and return the thing for a reward. Apple will be happy, and your life is freed from the legal ramifications.
After the person from the bar attempted to return it to Apple, and Apple refused, they forfeited ownership of the device to the man.
Lawfully owning it, he then sold it to Gizmodo.
Where's the criminal activity?
If someone leaves a phone at a bar and you grab it and sell it, instead of returning it...if you take something that isn't yours its called stealing.
Calling me a jackass may have made you feel better...but not right.
Oh and CChick....if I see someone drop a $100 bill and I take it...stealing. Your argument is an ethical one..not legal.
I feel like Apple is about to loose some money.
This were never a regular iPhone and everybody involved recognized that. The guy who took it at the bar and Jason Chen too. You just don't publish that you bought a $5000 regular iPhone from someone because you are dumb and you want to share that with the world. So Jason did something really dumb here and he was aware, he just couldn't resist to publish the information.
What manny of you are saying is that you agree to do that and what? will you do it again? will you be a part on something like this in the future with Apple or any other company involved? Well, you may be involved in a police investigation and you will have to explain your very personal vision to a judge inside a court room.
Where is the criminal activity?
Do something like this and ask this question to the judge in front of you
And why do you think that if you find something is yours?
That is exactly why you need police and laws
If you find a rare and valuable phone you just try to contact the owner. Manny times people returns to the place and ask for their property. And you have an explicit law there in California.
The civilization depends on trust. There is not enough police members to take care of everything.
You say because you hate Apple or someone else this is the way to go?
How do you lose your property? How do you agree to pay $5000 from dubious people and activities and then ask for your rights to be protected? Protected from the owner?
So it's offical that police raided Chen because Apple asked them to? I'm entirely unsurprised. Why's that? It's because Chen's perfectly innocent of any crime, and I'd bet you all that the District Attorney, county judge, and police chief ALL recognized this. Hence, they didn't bother wasting time with what would be a dead-end investigation, but they felt compelled when someone (namely, Steve Jobs) raised a fuss.
Unlike 99.999999% of those paying attention to the case (and likely the entirety of Apple, Inc. too) I actually went and LOOKED at California law. Specifically, the applicable piece is section 485 (and 487a, to a lesser extent) of California Penal Code. This is what defines larceny as a crime. (California groups all such actions under two charges, being "theft" for misdemeanors, and "grand theft" for felonies)
However, section 485 EXPLICITLY states, as I will provide for everyone's benefit: "One who finds lost property under circumstances which give him knowledge of or means of inquiry as to the true owner, and who appropriates such property to his own use, or to the use of another person not entitled thereto, without first making reasonable and just efforts to find the owner and to restore the property to him, is guilty of theft." (emphasis mine)
Now, HOW did the story go? If memory serves, the first thing the 'finder' did was attempt to contact Apple about it. Bingo, right there, FIRST THING, what would be every reasonable and just effort: they contacted the original owner directly. And what did Apple do? Quite naturally, they blew the guy off. A representative of Apple had basically just told him it wasn't Apple's phone. So right there: the finder had done really all they could do. Legally, he could now dispose of the phone as he wished, and not be guilty of theft. Legally, the phone hence could no longer be considered "stolen".
Hence, as the finder was absolved of their obligation to make 'reasonable and just efforts' to restore the property to Apple, they legally were allowed to sell it. Similarly, as it hence wasn't stolen, Gizmodo is legally in the clear for purchasing the iPhone, and disassembling it. Now, it's an option question of whether, once Apple's higher ups caught wind and laid claim to it, Chen was obligated to return it THEN. However, it's a moot point, since he did return it immediately upon request; better (legally) safe than sorry.
Hence, this is really disconcerting what's happened to Mr. Chen. Because the phone was not stolen, and no one will be able to prove that it WAS stolen in a Court of law, the warrant used to raid his home, damage his home, and steal his property is invalid. Hence, he's quite possibly had his fourth Amendment rights violated. I won't say for certain if they were, since that'll go on a much hazier debate, which will hinge upon how much 'speculation' is allowed.
But one thing's for certain: Apple certainly dropped the ball here, in every way imagineable. And no matter the result, it's going to be a huge publicity embarassment for them; the entire tech world is now PAINFULLY aware that inside the minds of their gray-haired suits, Apple has a VERY distinct, mafia-esque thug mindset. For them, strong-arm tactics are perfectly valid against any perceived as a threat to their company or to Steve Jobs. And pesky things like laws can't be allowed to get in the way.
Please don't post or say anything if you don't know or haven't read the full story. All the stories are are just so far "he said she said". There is no proof yet. But going by the posted stories on the internet, READ PEOPLE READ, here's what we know:
1) Said Apple Engineer "Lost" said Apple iPhone at a public place.
2) Said Person "A" found it, looked at the contents and saw said Apple Engineer's name.
3) Person "A" next day tried to get the person who owns the Apple iPhone, but Apple already sent signals to "Brick" the lost iPhone.
4) Person "A", now doesn't know who to contact, calls Apple (which dept....I don't know).
5) Apple tells Person "A"....what he/she has is a fake China Knock-off of the iPhone.
6) Person "A", (Person "A" might have given the phone to Person "B") sells the phone to Gizmodo for $5000.
7) Jason Chen and company opens up the phone and finds out it is the up and comming Apple 4G phone.
8) Gizmodo publishes info of what they know of the new phone.
9) Apple contacts Jason Chen and says that Apple would like the phone back. Jason Chen gives the phone back.
Given that scneario above, here's what I like to comment on:
#1 - I honestly believe the Apple Engineer had a brain fart and too much to drink at the public place...its a Bar from what we know.
#2 - Person "A" claimed to have found it and it could be true. But the Apple Engineer reported it to the police as stolen. You be the judge....Bar..beer..drinks....stolen phone? Me, personally, if I found a lost device such as an iPhone, I'd probably too wasted to try to contact that person who's name is the on the phone that night or day. I'd probably do the same as Person "A" did and wait until "I" had time. Its not my fault someone lost (for now) thier phone.
#3,#4,#5 and #6 combined - Even me, if I called Apple or any company and said.."Yo, I have an awkward looking product that looks like is yours and I have never seen such looking device from you before" AND then Apple or any Comapany tells me its a Chinese Knock-off...I'd probably think to myself, "well, I can't get this thing to turn on now (because its been bricked) to contact the owner and the so called Comapany that I think owns this device says its not thiers...oh well its a paper weight". Ofcourse, then I show it to Jason Chen and he wants to buy it from me for $5000...I'd be like "HELL YEAH!!!" as well too - wouldn't any of you?
#7, #8, and #9 - At this point, regardless if Jason Chen and company knew it was the new iPhone 4G, there is not proof or way to prove they knew it. No one has ever seen an Apple 4G in the wild. I am sure Gizmodo had some type of clue...but like a media outlet, its the explicit news and a chance of "Gizmodo only" scoop. What and how Gizmodo published is a different matter. Then for Gizmodo to turn over the phone back to Apple effortlessly and nicely only for Jason Chen to get his place Raided? - you be the judge.
After all that, my opinion....its all Apple's fault because its thier Engineer who "Lost" the phone in the first place. Not only that, Apple denied it was thier property. What would you have done? I wouldn't be wasting no more than 10 minutes of my life trying to return the phone once its been bricked and denied. Then for Apple to ask for a probe? How come we don't get that presidential treatment?
Its all Apple's own doing. Period.