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I guess not only are Apple products made in China, but it looks like the local authorities are acting like China as well.

Love it or hate it, what Jason Chen and Gawker did was journalism. Simply substitute "national enqurier" for gawker, and "john edwards" for iphone, and I think you'll get the idea.

Press freedom is one of the foundations of this country, and it's a pretty high bar to cross when you raid the home of someone exposing a corporate product, which gizmodo had every right to do.

Apple and the San Mateo PD are in pretty deep on this one. I'd reach a decision pretty quickly before the feds step in, and just give back the stuff.

Apple shiuld just come uo with some other surprise for June. I'm sure they have plenty.
 
So that is why we have cloud computing.

Or are the Police going to seize a cloud.
\\

You realize that right now that the police could ask Google or any company running a 'cloud' server for data and it's up to the company to decide if they will turn it over or not. A warrant might not even be required.

The privacy laws that would affect your own data on your own computer might not apply to a cloud server.

And heaven forbid that data is on cloud servers spread out across the world, subject to the whims of multiple countries idea of privacy and freedom.


Although you do have a point: Some crimes require the physical hardware to prosecute (not just copies of the data). That would be hard in a cloud that has data distributed over hundreds of hard drives wolrdwide.
 
Let me get this straight

Every blogger in the US can accept stolen goods as long as they post a few hundred misspelled words about it. Extra credit if you spell "lose" with an extra "o" like every single commenter/blogger/'journalist' on the interwebs.

I'll accept someone like Edward R. Murrow cracking open a prototype for the good of mankind, but some clown at Gizmodo who can barely take a blurry photo of the thing?
 
BELOW is the best post so far in this thread:

i don't see what gizmodo did wrong, they didnt steal anything.

-apple LOST thier iphone
don't forget that it was an apple employee who left it in a bar.

-the guy who found it TRIED to return it
he called in and the company bassically blew him off.

-GIZMODO is absolutly journalism.
you can't get upset that he posted this, his job is to post tech rumors. hell even MACRUMORS is considered journalism

-and not to forget, when apple asked for thier **** back, GIZMODO happily returned it.

-------------------------------------
from what i see GIZMODO isnt the bad guy. APPLEINSIDER, ENGADGET, MACRUMORS ETC. post LEAKED product pictures all the time.

they didnt break the law
they didnt steal
and they didn't lie.

apple is blaming the journalist for doing his JOB. INSTEAD of blaming the employed who f'd up and lost it.

thats seems kind of backwords dont you think.

------------------
i'm a apple lover like the rest of you, but this just seems wrong and unfair.

shame on you apple.

I agree with the below post, and have really started to wonder about half the people here....:confused:
You know you're fat & happy when you're totally okay with shredding the Constitution. I hope you guys are in the minority, else this country may some day soon find out what it's really like to have our freedom removed.
 
You don't get it at all, obviously ....

First of all, just having any old web page claimed to be a blog doesn't quite cut it as being protected as a journalist. Like most things, the claim has to pass some sort of "acid test" proving it is what you claim it is ... a valid "news site" people are reading/using. I think by the level of traffic and quantity of updates alone, Gizmodo would have *no* trouble justifying such a claim. Someone's personal web site slapped up on their free 5GB of web storage bundled with their broadband account probably will have a tough time claiming that makes their writing into journalism.

Secondly, "journalist shield law" simply means the police/govt. can't come in and seize their equipment when investigating a claimed crime. (Their computers likely contain a lot of information unrelated to what's being investigated, and some of that info may be legally protected from the eyes of law enforcement.) Instead, they have to do their investigation without the seizure - and subpoena what they need in court. If a journalist STEALS or even simply BUYS stolen property - he/she is not "off the hook", but there's a proper procedure for dealing with the situation.


Is it mean that anyone just having a blog website will be able to use "journalist shield law" and they can just go steal and buy any stolen property? That's will be a huge hole in the law.
 
Apparently the Judge who signed the search warrant did not... :rolleyes:

Yeah, because a judge's decisions have never been appealed and subsequently overturned.

Are you kidding me, man? When they come to your house and take your computers, we'll see how you feel. And don't think that just because you don't do anything illegal, it'll never happen. No one has proven that Gizmodo has done anything legal yet either. Just because you THINK you know they've done something illegal doesn't mean we just throw the Constitution out the window.

How is this argument even happening? Are people seriously in favor of having cops come to your house and take your stuff in violation of search and seizure laws??? Wake up!
 
If this was a Microsoft prototype, 99% of the people agreeing with this seizure would suddenly leap to Gizmodo's side.
 
i don't see what gizmodo did wrong, they didnt steal anything.

-apple LOST thier iphone
don't forget that it was an apple employee who left it in a bar.

-the guy who found it TRIED to return it
he called in and the company bassically blew him off.

-GIZMODO is absolutly journalism.
you can't get upset that he posted this, his job is to post tech rumors. hell even MACRUMORS is considered journalism

-and not to forget, when apple asked for thier **** back, GIZMODO happily returned it.

-------------------------------------
from what i see GIZMODO isnt the bad guy. APPLEINSIDER, ENGADGET, MACRUMORS ETC. post LEAKED product pictures all the time.

they didnt break the law
they didnt steal
and they didn't lie.

apple is blaming the journalist for doing his JOB. INSTEAD of blaming the employed who f'd up and lost it.

thats seems kind of backwords dont you think.

------------------
i'm a apple lover like the rest of you, but this just seems wrong and unfair.

shame on you apple.

Amen.
 
BELOW is the best post so far in this thread:



I agree with the below post, and have really started to wonder about half the people here....:confused:

And now you want a lawyers take on this situation?

Okay, I just finished talking to my dad about this.

A) The employee being drunk has no effect on the case Apple has against Gizmodo. Zero. Judge will laugh at that defense.

B) The founder did not do enough to locate original owner. Calling Apple's Tech Support in his opinion was a cop out hoping it would cover his ass. What he should have done was the following:

1. Leave his number with the bars owner. He agreed he wouldn't have left it at the bar.

2. use any personal information found in the phone to get in contact with the owner or someone who knew the owner.

3. Called Apple's Corporate Number. Since he knew he worked at Apple, calling their corporate number could have been able to put him on the phone with the owner and get his extension.

4. Go by Apple's Campus himself and talk to security.

5. Email Steve Jobs. I told my dad his email was public and he said that would have been an appropriate action.

6. Turn it into the police.

He failed to do those things which makes him taking the phone stealing. I repeat, the employee being drunk and stupidly losing/leaving the phone at the bar has no effect and doesn't make what the founder did any less illegal.

C) Gizmodo also at least civilly is guilty of misappropriation of trade secrets when they opened up the prototype and published what was inside the case. So Apple can sue Gizmodo for that.

D) Chen is not covered by the section Gawker's lawyer referenced. Any info the police gathers from the seized property can be used against him. The info can not be used against the source( aka the seller), but it doesn't protect the journalist himself( Chen) from doing illegal activity.

Point D is now in dispute, but my dad does not believe he is covered. So we'll see. But, points A-C is 100% certain.
 
He did broke the law, why is it so hard for people to understand that if it is not yours, why take it away from a private property and sell it? If it is not yours, just leave it at the bar, otherwise its upto you to take extra measures to find the owner.

Edit : He, meaning, the person who took the phone from the bar, not the blogger

the guy who took it from the bar aTTEMPTED TO RETURN IT
 
This only has to do with the legality of the search and seizure. This does not give journalists free reign at be above the law. That is what the people I quoted were implying. And that is what they were wrong about.

Their position is consistent. Since gawker has admitted to buying stolen property, which is an illegal act, and are now claiming that because they are journalists they cannot have warrants served against them, those people were right to point out that gawker is claiming that they are above the law.

You haven't addressed the legality of the search and seizure, because the law in question-- as I pointed out-- protects sources, not journalists.

OR put another way, to make the position you're taking, you'd have to show that the purpose of this seizure was to get at some third party (A source) and not to find evidence of a crime on the part of Chen's.
 
I was actually really interested in this whole story when it was developing but, quite honestly, it is now becoming stale and a little boring.
 
If this was a Microsoft prototype, 99% of the people agreeing with this seizure would suddenly leap to Gizmodo's side.

This is highly unlikely. I mean, where would Gizmodo get $40 to pay for a Microsoft prototype?
 
There's a huge difference between the DAs trying to get the information on the protected sources (That's the shield law and thus would make this search and seizure illegal) and the DAs trying to get the information whether Gizmodo was committing a felony, which has nothing to do with protected sources and thus nothing to do with shield laws.


That's the issue. Those claiming this search is wrong seem to be presuming that the purpose of the search is to go after the protected source.

But there's no evidence (that I'm aware of) that this is the case.
 
Exactly. It's really sad (in a sad way, not sarcastic) when a great organization like EFF contends that what Gizmodo did was "journalism." EFF is no better than Gizmodo here... they obviously want in on this for page clicks and PR.

Don't think they are doing this for page clicks as you mentioned. They must protect and defend the laws to the full extent. Seems to me the police/DA may have some more serious pressing matters too attend to.

:eek:
 
I'm no lawyer, nor do I pretend to be one... For those of greater legal knowledge than me:

Has the property in question verified as having been returned to Apple?

Is it highly unusual to have a "knock down the door" warrant when the alleged crime is not one of violence? I don't know Jason Chen's background (criminally speaking) but if he has no record was that a way over the top method for entering the house to execute the warrant? Wouldn't waiting for him to return have sufficed?
 
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