Criminal Investigation of Lost Next-Generation iPhone Spurred by Apple Requests

[baryon]

I really still think this is all a set up. Do you know how much publicity Apple and Gidmodo are getting from this?

Why on earth would an APPLE ENGINEER just "loose" the NEXT IPHONE??? He would be guarding that piece of technology WITH HIS LIFE.

Apple is just trying to hype up the iPhone, even more than it already is.

Just like they released the iPad, then announced iPhone OS 4.0... they are just trying to over hype.. and its working

Just my opinion, but I guarantee a different iPhone will be launched this Summer.

Yes it's definitely generating a lot of hype, but I really don't think Apple would want this kind of hype, even if it's eventually good for them. Apple is all about surprising people and not saying a word about what they're developing until it's completely finished, it's the way they work and they really seem to stay like that.

I still don't understand how an Apple engineer could loose the phone just like that, I mean I would imagine that Steve would personally tell the guy to guard it with his life.

But I'm pretty sure all this criminal stuff is something nobody wanted.

We still don't know whether this story qualifies as theft or not, so we can't tell whether there was any kind of criminal offence. Until then, we don't know what's right and what's wrong for the police to do. Well I guess they should decide whether it was theft or not before doing anything though...

 

[Rot'nApple]

That's what comes from when I visit Mac Rumors from my iPhone.

Should of just said that "Though the book at him." was the New Zealand version of the American version of "Throw the book at him." and thus you could have gotten away with it!

 

[bdkennedy1]

I'm sorry, how is taking something off of someone's private property that doesn't belong to you not stealing?

So if you buy a stolen (not really stolen but, found) iPhone, your home gets raided by the government and all of your computer equipment is detained and searched through?

Yeah, right. This only happens because of how Apple has an extreme obsession with secrecy.

 

[bookofzero]

You're comparing a $20,000 item to a $200 phone? I can somewhat see what you're trying to say, but that's a horrible comparison, because to steal a vehicle you need to break into it.

So, if you leave the keys in your car and forget to lock the door, it's ok to take it? Then it's OK for me to take it to someone else and sell it to them? Cool. Thanks!

Oh, the $5000 prototype they paid for is "just" a $200 phone? Good of you to put a price on an unreleased prototype, and at a few hundred dollar less than the unsubsidized price of the old model.

 

[chembox]

Not according to California law. Paying $5000 for a stolen item is a felony.

Being discussed here.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/905693/

I guess that's what you get for living in the most f'd up state (legal-wise) in the country.

So, if you leave the keys in your car and forget to lock the door, it's ok to take it? Then it's OK for me to take it to someone else and sell it to them? Cool. Thanks!

Oh, the $5000 prototype they paid for is "just" a $200 phone? Good of you to put a price on an unreleased prototype, and at a few hundred dollar less than the unsubsidized price of the old model.

You're still 'breaking into' the car, it's opening a door that isn't yours.

Chen didn't directly steal the phone, though.

 

[quagmire]

I'm sorry, how is taking something off of someone's private property that doesn't belong to you not stealing?

Don't bother. He still thinks founders keepers applies in the adult world.......

 

[Scooterman1]

As I have previously stated...... What an ingenious way for Apple not to take negative press and get the D.A. to be the one who spends tax money to get this prosecuted (if there's a case). Apple don't want to spend any of their hard earned money. But this only hinges on the possibility that the D.A.'s office don't do anything wrong. CA is notorious for botching investigations/trying cases. All Gizmodo needs, at this point, is O.J.s' lawyers.

 

[Jett0516]

You're comparing a $20,000 item to a $200 phone? I can somewhat see what you're trying to say, but that's a horrible comparison, because to steal a vehicle you need to break into it.

the phone was a prototype. It may look like a cheap $200 phone to us but its probably worth thousands/millions to Apple.

 

[Skuman]

So if you buy a stolen (not really stolen but, found) iPhone, your home gets raided by the government and all of your computer equipment is detained and searched through?

Yeah, right. This only happens because of how Apple has an extreme obsession with secrecy.

Or the value of what is stolen represents millions.

 

[quagmire]

*delete please*

 

[BitDrive]

I wonder how many Gawker employees are now tasked with the job of setting up fake user names and posting on sites like this... Ya know, trying to get everyone to drink the Gizmodo Kool-Aid.

...It was lost....
... They tried to return it...
...I'ts Journalism...


LOL

 

[gmcalpin]

It was lost (from the reports I heard) but was there ever an intention to permanently deprive the owner of it?

I don't know California law, but (from the ever-reliable Wikipedia), in SOME jurisdictions:

Under common law principles, the finder of a misplaced object has a duty to turn it over to the owner of the premises, on the theory that the true owner is likely to return to that location to search for his misplaced item. If the true owner does not return within a reasonable time (which varies considerably depending on the circumstances), the property becomes that of the owner of the premises.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost,_mislaid,_and_abandoned_property

It's worth noting that the Apple employee who misplaced the phone DID contact the owner of the bar, while the person who found it did not, which… I mean, come on. That's the most obvious course of action if you're in a freakin' bar. If the person who found it had simply turned it in, as he/she was supposed to do, the rightful owner would have gotten the phone much quicker.

Now, I'm no lawyer, but the person who found it did not seem to be trying very hard to actually return the thing to the rightful owner. I mean, if you found an empty, ugly coat, you'd turn it into the bar. You wouldn't take it HOME with you, you know?

The police need to know what exactly happened before it got to Gizmodo (and what Gizmodo knew when they paid to obtain it), in order to determine if a crime or multiple crimes were committed. (The fact that the way the police went about it was possibly illegal is a separate matter.)

 

[Bigskygangsta]

Apple just needs an employee manual addendum....

Section 35.2b

- Don't get so frigging drunk in a German Bar that you leave your confidential prototype iphone on a friggin bar stool and don't realize it until the next friggin day you idiot.



(Apple needs to hire me asap)

 

[chembox]

We don't know the full situation. Why didn't the employee call his prototype phone (assuming you could access Facebook, it had a cellular connection)? Why didn't he track the location via Mobileme? There are too many details we don't know, hell, it might not even have been found at a bar.

I'm sorry, how is taking something off of someone's private property that doesn't belong to you not stealing?

Chen never stole the phone.

Plus, some other alcoholic probably would have kept the phone and sold it on Craigslist the day after.

 

[The General]

I just want to see Jason Chen and the Gawker CEO in prison with hardened felons for a few years. Is that too much to ask for?

really? prison? for getting Apple's new hotness and telling us about it? seems a bit harsh.

 

[bookofzero]

You forgot, "He loosed it, it's his fault".

It's "lose", with the past tense of "lost". It's also the name of a highly popular TV show - I don't get what's so hard about it.

I wonder how many Gawker employees are now tasked with the job of setting up fake user names and posting on sites like this... Ya know, trying to get everyone to drink the Gizmodo Kool-Aid.

...It was lost....
... They tried to return it...
...I'ts Journalism...


LOL

 

[Mystic385]

Originally Posted by wackymacky
. . . Though the book at Jason Chen is what I say.

Would that be a book on spelling?

lol.

 

[Krizoitz]

You're comparing a $20,000 item to a $200 phone? I can somewhat see what you're trying to say, but that's a horrible comparison, because to steal a vehicle you need to break into it.

No its not a $200 phone, its a prototype of what will eventually be a phone closer in teh range of $500. Its the prototype part that is the big deal there in terms of worth. Prototypes are worth thousands of dollars, perhaps tens even hundreds of thousands because of what they represent.

Beyond that, under California law you have to return the object to the owner if at all possible, selling it for your own profit constitutes theft. This isn't even a question except for people who are clueless of the facts of the case.

Jason Chen bought known stolen goods. Thats a felony. He should have just paid the guy for the right to take pictures, then he'd have been covered under journalist protections, now he is very likely up a creek without a paddle.

Also, Gizmodo's legal team is terrible, seriously, they need to hire a professional over there.

 

[bookofzero]

He was involved in receiving stolen property. In fact, he was involved in purchasing stolen property. The argument of what "some other alcoholic" would have done is absolutely specious and irrelevant to the discussion (even though "some other alcoholic", in the example you gave, would be just as guilty of a felony and deserve the same treatment).

Chen never stole the phone.

Plus, some other alcoholic probably would have kept the phone and sold it on Craigslist the day after.

 

[hayesk]

Buying stolen property...... How many times does this need repeating?

Don't forget profiting from knowingly stolen property.

 

[coleridge78]

I guess that's what you get for living in the most f'd up state (legal-wise) in the country.


You're still 'breaking into' the car, it's opening a door that isn't yours.

Chen didn't directly steal the phone, though.

It's the same in your state.

It's the same in every state.

It's the same in the UK and every commonwealth country.

It's been the same in nearly every part of every nation in the western world for at least 400 years. You are not allowed to keep something that ISN'T YOURS.

Good christ you're willfully ignorant.

 

[healeydave]

Stolen?

It was lost (from the reports I heard) but was there ever an intention to permanently deprive the owner of it?

If the Apple engineer hadn't lost it and it was obtained dishonestly, then I can understand the crime implication.

Yeah well all you have read is what Gizmodo wanted to say to make it look innocent, or what the seller told Gizmodo to make the sale seem legit.

It all sounded a bit convenient and suspicious to me from day one, an Apple engineer just happened to leave a prototype in a bar.

I have thought from the beginning before any words of "stolen" appeared that maybe the seller actually stole it from the bar.

I mean when you know the lengths Apple goes to to keep things secret, do you really think if an engineer did leave the phone by accident that he wouldn't be back there 10 mins later to collect.

Gizmodo stated that the so called finder hung around the bar for a while to see if anyone returned to claim, yeah right, I know I am a naturally suspicious person anyway, but something tell's me the reason the Apple engineer was not sacked on the spot is because he wasn't as negligent as the parties involved would like us to believe!

 

[MorphingDragon]

Should of just said that "Though the book at him." was the New Zealand version of the American version of "Throw the book at him." and thus you could have gotten away with it!

Our accent isn't that bad.

 

[hayesk]

Stolen?

If the Apple engineer hadn't lost it and it was obtained dishonestly, then I can understand the crime implication.

It was obtained dishonestly. The guy can claim he tried to find the owner all he wants, but the fact that he charged $5000 for it means he knows it was a prototype and it belonged to Apple - he should have turned it into the bar.

 

[hagjohn]

I think I read that the guy who found it called Apple and Apple claimed it wasn't their phone. If you tried to return it, the owner denies it's theirs, then is it stealing? I think there is a case that a reasonable attempt was made to return it.

Hang on to that ticket # dude.