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i'd have done the same thing he did, apple should not treat him like this way, the iphone4 is a 3 year old device, why not forget about it?
 
The employee who lost the phone was to blame for losing the phone.

All three were wrong in their own way. The engineer shouldve been more careful, hogan should have rightfully return it(i dont mean apple care, apple hq), and gizmodo shouldnt have brought property they knew wasn't rightfully the sellers. Now can we please stop arguing over 3 year old news lol
 
I've got the damn phone number of the guy who has my wifes stolen iPhoen 4s and can't get the cops to go get it...
 
about everyday i see new leaks of upcoming high end phones and most of the people get away with it, but this guy had a real bad luck. i feel sorry for him.
 
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.


Ah hell you can't follow a conversation I might as well answer you straight on.

My whole point through that conversation you chose to take out of context so obtusely, was not about what I would do (again you would know if you followed the conversation) but about laws. Putting a legal burden on an individual finding lost property and indemnifying actions of careless individuals. The person who found my wallet in HS is not a should not be labeled a thief, if someone else had found that purse at the zoo and taken it should not be labeled a thief, if someone finds a lost phone they shouldn't either.

Again and again, not about what I would do but rather any government (local, state, federal) shouldn't bear the burden to protect you from your own actions such as leaving your item unattended. If I leave my phone in a bar and someone takes it I , personally, would not get the police involved because it is and never was their responsibility for me to maintain possession. I also would not call the person a thief. Yes, it would be nice if they returned it to me but I would not hold them personally responsible to do it.

What I parents taught me was "Return lost items to their owners but don't expect other to do the same for you. It's not their responsibility to fix your mistakes. You want to keep your crap then don't lose it."
 
Poor guy, he was scammed when trying to sell stolen property.

And he was only 21 years old! :rolleyes:
Yeah.. I bet you never did anything illegal, because you fear so much to get "scammed".
Maybe consider what Steve Jobs said about Bill Gates for never ever consuming something "illegal", and how good that experience could have been for Gates..
 
What he should have done is take lots of photos and sell the photos to the press and then simply posted the phone back to Apple. Then he would not have committed a crime and would have been a few grand up. I guess hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Following what did happen (it's an interesting read) personally I would have taken out a lawsuit against Apple and the California police for a $100m for harassment, mental anguish, etc, etc.

PS No I don't give a s*** that it didn't belong to him. He found it, he didn't steal it. Finders keepers in my book.

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Poor guy, he was scammed when trying to sell stolen property.

He didn't steal it. He found it. Big difference.
 
Gizmodo is no longer invited to any Apple Events.

That may be, but legally nothing happened. It's like I buy knowingly a stolen Rolex and won't get invites to any Rolex events any more.

It's a crime, no questions asked

http://www.shouselaw.com/stolen-property.html
 
PS No I don't give a s*** that it didn't belong to him. He found it, he didn't steal it. Finders keepers in my book.

Please use that as a defense if you get brought to court for selling lost property.... I hope it is televised to see how hard the judge will laugh at you for that defense.....

Finders keepers is not a legal defense for selling lost property which is quite illegal to do.....
 
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Please use that as a defense when you get brought to court.... I hope it is televised to see how hard the judge will laugh at you for that defense.....

Finders keepers is not a legal defense for selling lost property which is quite illegal to do.....

Wrong. If you find something and nobody claims it within a certain period it's legally yours. I know I've done it. I found a phone in a shop. I handed it in to lost property and when nobody claimed it after 30 days I got to keep it.

Plus if you read the rest of my OP I suggested he takes some pics and hand the phone back. That way he could sell the pics not the phone which is not illegal.
 
Wrong. If you find something and nobody claims it within a certain period it's legally yours. I know I've done it. I found a phone in a shop. I handed it in to lost property and when nobody claimed it after 30 days I got to keep it.

Plus if you read the rest of my OP I suggested he takes some pics and hand the phone back. That way he could sell the pics not the phone which is not illegal.

Yes, but they have to take what you say out of context to make points, it's all they got.
 
Wrong. If you find something and nobody claims it within a certain period it's legally yours. I know I've done it. I found a phone in a shop. I handed it in to lost property and when nobody claimed it after 30 days I got to keep it.

Plus if you read the rest of my OP I suggested he takes some pics and hand the phone back. That way he could sell the pics not the phone which is not illegal.

Right. But, this guy didn't wait the 30 days, didn't make a reasonable effort to return the phone, etc. He sold it while it wasn't technically his yet. Which makes it ILLEGAL.

I did read the rest of your post. If that is what he did, I would have no issue with what happened. I only replied to that portion of your post because of that finders keepers comment. Finders keepers is not a legal defense. Showing you made all reasonable attempts to return the lost property to the owner and waiting that 30 days is a legal defense.
 
Right. But, this guy didn't wait the 30 days, didn't make a reasonable effort to return the phone, etc. He sold it while it wasn't technically his yet. Which makes it ILLEGAL.

Well technically no as he didn't sell it because Gizmodo didn't give him any money for it in the end. So legally he simply gave it to them. That's not a crime. If I find something in the street and give it to you then legally I'm passing on the responsibility to you. He was stupid but not a criminal. He should have sued the cops for wrongful arrest.
 
Well technically no as he didn't sell it because Gizmodo didn't give him any money for it in the end. So legally he simply gave it to them. That's not a crime. If I find something in the street and give it to you then legally I'm passing on the responsibility to you. He was stupid but not a criminal. He should have sued the cops for wrongful arrest.

Gizmodo paid him $5,000 upfront for it. They promised him $3,000 more if it was a legit iPhone prototype, but didn't pay up.

From the article.....

In the session, Hogan claims that he was taken advantage of by Gizmodo, which failed to pay an alleged $3,000 bonus to Hogan predicated on Apple confirming the device was genuine. Gizmodo had paid $5,000 up front for the device, but Hogan notes that he spent much more than that on legal fees related to his defense.
 
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.
Excuse me? Following the law equates with a lack of personal responsibility? The personal responsibility does not stop with the person who accidentally left property behind. You have a personal responsibility to act in a civil matter when you live in a civil society even if the "law" does not require you to do the "right thing", you still do it for the good of all. If everyone acted responsibly and considered how their actions can negatively impact others, we would live in a harmonious society without any strife or crime.

While such a society is obviously utopian and out of reach, you can do your part to do right by others regardless of whether the law compels you to. In this case, the finder of the property was compelled by the law because he knew who the property belonged to and yet decided to "sell" that property as if it was his own.

If you are ever uncertain about what the right thing to do is, put yourself in the shoes of the other person and think about how you would want to be treated.

That is the basis for the golden rule.
 
Showing you made all reasonable attempts to return the lost property to the owner and waiting that 30 days is a legal defense.

Again sorry but that's not strictly correct either. You have no legal obligation to try and find the owner. You could quite legally throw it in the bin. The only way a crime would occur is if you attempted to benefit from the find by selling it on for example. Then technically you're selling something that doesn't belong to you which is fraud or false representation. He was charged with "misappropriation of property". He pleaded no contest to the charges so was convicted. He should have pleaded not guilty IMO.
 
Again sorry but that's not strictly correct either. You have no legal obligation to try and find the owner. You could quite legally throw it in the bin. The only way a crime would occur is if you attempted to benefit from the find by selling it on for example. Then technically you're selling something that doesn't belong to you which is fraud or false representation. He was charged with "misappropriation of property". He pleaded no contest to the charges so was convicted. He should have pleaded not guilty IMO.

California law states that you have to make a reasonable attempt to find the owner( this is coming from memory about the case 3 years ago. I will try to look it up myself). If he simply gave it to the bar owner, that would have gotten rid of that responsibility. Instead he took it himself which put the responsibility on him to do.....

EDIT: Here you go....

Penal Code 485 PC -- California's law against appropriating (or misappropriating) lost property -- prohibits you keeping property that you find when there are clues identifying its true owner.1 You are not required to go to extremes to identify and contact the owner. But the law says you must make a reasonable attempt to do so.

http://www.shouselaw.com/appropriation-lost-property.html
 
Gizmodo paid him $5,000 upfront for it. They promised him $3,000 more if it was a legit iPhone prototype, but didn't pay up.

From the article.....

No read it again. The article says that Gizmodo promised to pay him $5000 up front but it doesn't actually say that they gave him any money at all. It's not clear whether or not he got the $5000. My reading was that he got nothing.

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California law states that you have to make a reasonable attempt to find the owner( this is coming from memory about the case 3 years ago. I will try to look it up myself). If he simply gave it to the bar owner, that would have gotten rid of that responsibility. Instead he took it himself which put the responsibility on him to do.....

EDIT: Here you go....

http://www.shouselaw.com/appropriation-lost-property.html

Ok so in this case he asked around the bar if anyone owned the phone. There were no other obvious indicators as to who the phone belonged to.
 
Ok so in this case he asked around the bar if anyone owned the phone. There were no other obvious indicators as to who the phone belonged to.

Before Apple remotely bricked it, Hogan was able to access the engineers facebook account...... He had an idea whose phone it was.....

And reading the direct convo.... To me it sounds he got the $5,000, but not the $3,000 bonus. Just he ended up with basically nothing due to the legal costs.....
 

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Think of what this could have been...
-Finds phone
-Writes steve@apple.com
-Sets up in person transfer of phone and lunch with steve in the apple café.
-Photos with dude and steve shaking hands on your office desk. Free iphone 4 when it was released.
 
Interesting that you assume that the tester was wasted. I don't even drink but have left lots of things in places they don't belong over the years. It happens especially if you have multiple hot issues on your mind.

The real problem here is why would a 21 year old not have any respect for somebody else's property? This is the crux of the problem, people have the option to do the right thing which here would have been easy. Instead we have everybody making up excuses. I have to wonder why AI even referred to the law as being a century old, the laws age does make it any less right.

All would have been avoided if the owner didn't get wasted and remembered his phone. :rolleyes:
I'm not saying I agree with Hogan.. He should have left it there. I know the point of these phones in the wild is to perform field testing. But perhaps you could have left it at home when going to a bar to celebrate. Plenty of other opportunities to field test it
 
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