You think CS reps have the means and/or know what to do if someone did find a prototype device? They know as much about Apple's future products and know what to do as much as an Apple Store Genius.......
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Law Enforcement Reportedly Looking Into Circumstances of Lost Next-Generation iPhone
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You think CS reps have the means and/or know what to do if someone did find a prototype device? They know as much about Apple's future products and know what to do as much as an Apple Store Genius.......
that is SO CRAZY... selling something you have no ownership of is THEFT?!? how WACKY!
Most of the time if you find something in a bar you take it home. Please don't start with the whole I am a good samaritan garbage. And yes its human nature to be shady, but of course no one here would be like that, oh no. Then again who would even care about finding a palm.
That's the entire point. The guy in the bar didn't break into anything, didn't cut a lock, didn't pickpocket anyone, didn't trespass and take something... he simply picked up the phone which was abandoned by some drunk fool and wasn't in anyone's possession.
Hopefully this Gray guy learned a lesson.
So, lose the phone, not a trade secret.
Phone stolen, still a trade secret.
Sorry, that doesn't work.
As always, the opinions on this forum are LAUGHABLE!I love reading through this stuff and how intense the conversation gets, like anyone here has a personal stake in Apple's well being in some way.
Who really cares about this? There was no act of aggression here. It was a bad mistake by the loser of the phone and a bad decision by the finder. Let it be. In the long run, it won't matter one bit if we know some details (almost ALL of which we could have guessed already) about a new iphone 2 months early. Jeez..........
And I don't want my tax dollars spent on pursuing ridulous things like this.
Tony
I have little personal stake in Apple, but I have a pretty big stake in living in a society that doesn't let dirtbags get away with taking things that don't belong to them. I prefer that the state provides a peaceful mechanism for citizens to vindicate their property rights; otherwise owners who have misplaced things end up beating to a pulp finders who keep them.
I suspect the intensity of reaction you are seeing is a reaction to those who see nothing wrong with pocketing something you know doesn't belong to you when it is possible to find the owner.
Read the posts, the thief DID NOT make a reasonable effort to contact Apple. He called a support line that EVERYONE knows would have no clue about the device thus would refuse to discuss the matter. That is NOT doing your due diligence to locate the owner and return the lost item.
I don't know why that is so hard for people to understand. If he had even walked into an Apple Store and spoken with a store manage and presented the back of the iPhone prototype, the store manage would have taken the device and contacted corporate Apple for further instructions.
The thief took the least possible effort that he knowingly would result in him keeping the device. The guy should be prosecuted under the law, period.
Wow, finally someone on the opposite side of the argument that brings up good comments. Maybe a little degrading, but I'll take it.
Now Cartaphilus, I have to ask you, if the law is the law and stealing is stealing:
What would happen if someone keeps leaving the car's door unlocked and the keys in the ignition? Are the police allowed to ignore this? Does the law suddenly find itself not protect this property anymore?*
From my observations, the law bends to human/social will. The law never seems to be equally applied. If it was, this issue would be much more clear for us.
*I only ask you this hypothetical to better understand you and where you are coming from.
Which makes it lost property which the founder has an obligation to make all reasonable actions to return it to the proper owner. This person didn't which it then becomes theft.
Even if it was the guys fault for losing it, it doesn't make it right for the founder to go and sell it to make a profit. What happened to the other old saying of, " Two wrongs don't make a right".
Hmmm
I really thought that the return of the phone would be the end of anything legal, maybe I was wrong!
I don't really complain about the leak, especially from Rumors sites. But, once Apple writes a Cease and Desist letter, the further video post on Gizmodo just makes my inner voices say, "don't do that!"
I really thought that the return of the phone would be the end of anything legal, maybe I was wrong!
I don't really complain about the leak, especially from Rumors sites. But, once Apple writes a Cease and Desist letter, the further video post on Gizmodo just makes my inner voices say, "don't do that!"
why would it be less illegal if it has happened before?
and we're not talking about what the police are "allowed" to do. we're talking about what's legal / illegal.
if some cops got tired of finding the same car and telling the owner to lock it... they might stop looking anymore. but that doesn't change the fact that it's still THEFT.
that just means the cops are human. we're talking law, not cops being lazy.
Well " Two wrongs don't make a right" is a good moral saying while, " Finders Keepers" isn't. So Finders Keepers deserves to be washed away. Faster kids forget that saying, the less idiots claiming finding the prototype is finders keepers and thinks what the finder did is not illegal.
A secret is still a secret till it becomes known. You couldn't claim there are no trade secret if the engineer had come back and picked up the phone with no one ever seing it could you?
Problem is once the "finder" pick up the phone he becomes responsible for it. If he publishes its secrets he has damaged its value and is legally responsable to the owner.
If I pick up someones wallet and publish his SS# and credit card numbers I am responsible for any fraud that occurs as a result of that.
Freedom of press covers the speech. That's not the discussion here. We are not discussing whether Gizmodo has the right to publish the photos. That could be covered by trade secret law. If Apple asks Gizmodo to take down the photos/video/articles, then we can discussion freedom of press.
We are discussing the stolen iPhone.
A journalist has the freedom of press. That does not mean he is execused to follow other laws.
Your implying every state is the same, its not. I posted a few days ago about Texas law. As I read the story, someone found it gave it to someone else who did call someone about it, but like most people oh wait no one here is actually human we are extraterrestrial we don't behave like no stinking humans.
Then that person had it for a week, please feel free to contradict me if I missed something, then someone from Gizmodo got it, figured out what it was, paid to allow them to take pics which for them may not mean anything illegal then they finally got with someone at Apple, someone talked to Steve the Messiah, I guess that conversation went one of two ways.
First would be with Steve been disappointed but understanding the demand and fan club that Apple is to so many people. The second one well is a lot of screaming and saying how he will crush them and bla bla bla.
I lived 3 years in California, and its has some strange laws, very restrictive laws that make lots of people easily fall into the category of criminals. Had to get a friend of mine who is a lawyer just to deal with a right turn camera ticket. So don't tell me how strange they are there.
Good weather also.
On top of that, they have their own special task force for just the valley, makes it almost sound like a police state in that area. I do not condone stealing but I also don't condone rich kids having paranoid delusions and not been able to resolve an internal mistake as a criminal offense.
They may have strange laws, but are you saying selling something that isn't yours isn't wrong?
Yep, and those people need to be prosecuted too. Come on over to my house and uproot my flowers and ring and run. If the legal system doesn't punish you, then I will introduce you to my little fren'.
I don't want to live in a society where punks get to do whatever they want to people minding their own business. I want to live where punks get punished, and stop acting like punks.
I am curious....with all the comments on California, in which state would have legal to buy/sell stolen goods?
Can everyone chip in?
The entitlement mentality of some of the morons in this country is frightening. "Hey, it was his fault he lost it and my good fortune that I found it! Screw him!"
It is moronic thinking like that which makes me fervently hope that the boneheaded dumbass that "found" it, plus the smug dirtbags at Gawker that purchased it, spend some time in jail. I'm sick and tired of the "screw everybody for a dollar" mentality that causes people to justify criminal acts.
In addition to hoping they do some jail time, I hope their cellmate is real friendly and likes to cuddle!
Mark
It is moronic thinking like that which makes me fervently hope that the boneheaded dumbass that "found" it, plus the smug dirtbags at Gawker that purchased it, spend some time in jail. I'm sick and tired of the "screw everybody for a dollar" mentality that causes people to justify criminal acts.
In addition to hoping they do some jail time, I hope their cellmate is real friendly and likes to cuddle!
Mark
On the floor that would be true. But on the bar a barstool or on a table it is in possession of the bar. That is why even if Apple never claimed the device the "finder" could not, it would belong to the bar. This is standard property law.
I haven't read the whole thread, but in case someone hasn't made this point:
If Apple DIDN'T complain, then the next time someone posts their trade secrets on "teh intertubes", they would not have a case.
Let the authorities decide if it's worthwhile to prosecute. I imagine that the dude who sold it to Giz is somewhere south of Tijuana by now...
Oh, and when Giz referred to "the **sorry** engineer who lost the phone" they lost any sympathy I might possibly have for them. I hope the book gets thrown at them and the whole damned Gawker empire is gutted.
If Apple DIDN'T complain, then the next time someone posts their trade secrets on "teh intertubes", they would not have a case.
Let the authorities decide if it's worthwhile to prosecute. I imagine that the dude who sold it to Giz is somewhere south of Tijuana by now...
Oh, and when Giz referred to "the **sorry** engineer who lost the phone" they lost any sympathy I might possibly have for them. I hope the book gets thrown at them and the whole damned Gawker empire is gutted.