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Finder of Leaked iPhone 4 Prototype Speaks Out
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It's doubtful. It's not like Apple doesn't get enough buzz and headlines as it is. Why would they go to all this risk? Why put one of the actual phones in the wild when a leaked image or two would have been worth thousands of headlines and blogs posts?
Regardless, if you read what was written after the fact about how Steve Jobs handled the lost phone situation and how much he tried to keep the whole thing low-key and avoid bringing in the authorities, you'd see he wasn't behaving like someone trying to generate headlines.
http://thewirecutter.com/2011/10/steve-jobs-was-always-kind-to-me-or-regrets-of-an-*******/
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Other than your own impeccable instincts and an uncanny ability to see into the minds of Apple's executive team, what evidence do you have for this assertion?
You don't get it. A lot of people don't define it as theft because they stole from Apple.
This. I would've emailed Jobs directly and used the prototype as a bargaining chip to set up a once in a lifetime meeting with him maybe grab coffee and give him the phone directly without leaking it. Who knows maybe Jobs would've been moved by the act and offered him a position at Apple? That would've been my angle, instead he made a quick $5k that disappeared just as fast in legal fees.
Essentially, what Gizmodo did. It's okay, though, they don't have to obey laws against theft. They're "journalists."
Do you mean Apple specifically, or because it's from a company?
Either way, then do these people don't call it theft if you took a shirt from a clothing store?
Basically if something's not yours, it belongs to someone else. And if you know to whom it belongs, then you should return it. Right?
I blame education.... [shakes head]
Last I checked it is not illegal to lose a phone. It is, however, illegal to keep property that you know does not belong to you.
I belief in forgiveness, but at the time the guy was slime. He lived by an Apple store. He could have easily taken it there if he did not want to keep it at the bar. Instead, he took it home, and tried to sell it.
The police in this case, however, lacked ethics. They let Gizmondo off, when it essentially bought stolen property, which is also illegal.
This is what Gizmodo did....
1) Bought lost prototype from thief
2) Tore it apart while taking pictures of it.
3) When Apple demanded it back, demanded it in writing claiming it was theirs so they could post it on the site acknowledging their stories credibility of it being a real prototype.
4) After they were done with the phone and got the letter, returned it to Apple.
If they just took a few pics and returned the phone to Apple without the hassle and without tearing it apart, I wouldn't have much of an issue( since it would have been legal of gizmodo to buy the prototype with the intention of returning it to Apple). Hell, I wouldn't have much of an issue with Hogan if he sold the pictures of it to Gizmodo before returning it to Apple. But, that is not what happened.
Hogan made a lame attempt to return the prototype, sold the prototype to the highest bidder now making the lost property, stolen property, gizmodo tears apart the prototype, and blackmails Apple into giving them a written form so they could post online for readers to see before returning the prototype full knowing it was Apple's property.
I believe the law clearly says "finders keepers, loosers weepers." It dates back to Lord Blackburn's earlier decision of Weepers v. Keepers, where he held that Weepers need to just suck it up.
Again, I was not blaming the engineer for losing it. Was simply making an analogy to people who blame the rape victim for being raped because she was intoxicated( such as what happened with the Steubenville, Ohio case) with the person I replied to making it sound like he was blaming the engineer and saying the thief was not to blame....
The Apple Store would have turned him away as well. Like with AppleCare, the store would have no idea what to do with it.
Well of course he would take that stance since his whole profession is based around the lack of personal responsibility.
Ah, poor assumptions to try to make a point, the crutch of those with no case. Again showing your lack of understanding of personal responsibility, part of it is attempting to return lost item to their owners. My parents did teach me lost property was mine to take. To take and returned to A) someone at the location it was found who could return it to it's owner or B) if possible return to it's owner, because leaving it could result in someone with poor ethics taking it and not returning it. I have found lost items and "took" possession of them and sat with said item until the owner came to claim it. Namely a purse at a zoo. While I don't believe taking it would have been theft I also didn't believe it was the right thing to do. So please judge me.
You know full well what I meant. Of course taking the lost property with the intention of finding the owner is fine. But, taking a lost phone and then selling it is not legal. Hogan did not become the rightful owner of the prototype because he did not take all appropriate measures to return it to the rightful owner. Made one lame attempt and then sold it off. At that point, it became stolen property. Before then, all Hogan did was being in possession of lost property. But, the moment he failed to make all reasonable attempts to return it and sold it, he becomes a thief.
I would have simply taken the phone and gone to apple campus and left a note for Steve Jobs lable, very important, note would say "Hi Steve Iv got the phone safe call me on this number"
Even if the note never made it to Steve it would have gone to some one in his office, arranged a face to face meeting and handed over the phone stating that i wanted to hand it over in person as i knew it was likely a secret product unreleased product and did not want it falling into the wrong hands, then I would have negotiated a deal for my silence in the whole matter such as free Apple products for life and a seat a the launch
Far better than the crap that bloke brought upon him self.
Even if the note never made it to Steve it would have gone to some one in his office, arranged a face to face meeting and handed over the phone stating that i wanted to hand it over in person as i knew it was likely a secret product unreleased product and did not want it falling into the wrong hands, then I would have negotiated a deal for my silence in the whole matter such as free Apple products for life and a seat a the launch
Far better than the crap that bloke brought upon him self.
Are you being intentionally obtuse? I'm glad your parents taught you to properly handle lost property like that. However, let's alter your story of sitting with the lost purse to be a bit more analogous to what happened with the lost iPhone. Let's say it was Paris Hilton's purse and once you became aware of that, you went out and tried to sell it to a tabloid so they could examine and publish its contents.
Are you still in the right then? Because that's what happened with the lost iPhone.
Let's hear your answer. Let's see what kind of job your parents really did.
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1h2m81/i_leaked_the_iphone_4_ama/caq9vcx
Sounds like he did get fired?
He did contact Apple first. If they had just put him in contact with the right people the whole thing would have been sorted.
And that's where it differs. I don't believe in laws that require you to do the right thing as I said the burden of responsibility is on the owner of the item. Having laws that puts the burden on the person who finds lost items weakens peoples understanding of personal responsibility.
The Apple employee is to blame for the whole thing. Hogan didn't make it any better with his choices but again I don't believe in laws that shifts blame from the irresponsible and the careless to protect them from themselves.
Try to keep up with all the post, reading just one part of a conversation out of context can lead to that confusion.
The above replay hints at it.
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People seem to think this is a black and white debate. Yes, the employee should be held responsible for losing the phone, but that does NOT exempt the guy from obeying the law/having a sense of decency/morals.
Yes, people do need to be more careful with their possessions, but that doesn't mean that if a lady accidentally leaves her purse at a zoo, it's perfectly fine for the next person that comes along to claim it as theirs and keep all of its contents.
Both sides were to blame. I'm sure the employee got reprimanded for his lack of judgement. Where my issue lies is the prevalent attitude that the morally defunct 21 year old that chose to sell it for a large profit shouldn't have had to face any consequences for his role in the matter.
Absolutely disgusting...
Yes, people do need to be more careful with their possessions, but that doesn't mean that if a lady accidentally leaves her purse at a zoo, it's perfectly fine for the next person that comes along to claim it as theirs and keep all of its contents.
Both sides were to blame. I'm sure the employee got reprimanded for his lack of judgement. Where my issue lies is the prevalent attitude that the morally defunct 21 year old that chose to sell it for a large profit shouldn't have had to face any consequences for his role in the matter.
Absolutely disgusting...