Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Law Enforcement Reportedly Looking Into Circumstances of Lost Next-Generation iPhone

all this over an iphone that's coming to sprint in June
this is lame
as if no one knew
sprints been working on their site pretty heavily



i hate sue happy people

gizmodo are morons
pardon my French
 
SirHaakon said:
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.
Click to expand...

So I guess I could go into a bar and take a bottle of Blue Label. It is just sitting there. Nobody is in possession of it. Why didn't this guy just go find an iPhone in the Apple Store and take it?

Taking something that you know belongs to someone else is stealing/theft.

It is worrisome that more than a couple people here don't understand that. Realize ignorance is not a valid defense when breaking the law, so for all of you who don't understand how and why this is a crime, you need to educate yourself, before you also break the law.



brewcitywi said:
I really thought that the return of the phone would be the end of anything legal, maybe I was wrong!
Click to expand...

Imagine that world.

Mr. Jones we know you burglarized 25 residences and stole $525,000 worth of merchandise, but since you offered to return it once we caught you, it is not a crime.

It is like in Belgium. Escaping from Jail is NOT a crime in Belgium. However if you steal your prison clothes when you escape, you will be charged for theft. So if someone successfully escapes jail in Belgium, they have to mail their clothes back to the jail to avoid committing a crime.

This is what absurd logic some of you seemingly think applies here, but it does not.


johnqh said:
I am curious....with all the comments on California, in which state would have legal to buy/sell stolen goods?

Can everyone chip in?
Click to expand...

I doubt there is any jurisdiction in the United States where this is not a crime.


scwinsett said:
It is petty to prosecute either of these people. And Apple employee took an unfinished prototype out drinking and left it there. This is no one's fault but his. For Apple to try putting the blame on anyone but their own retarded employee is vindictive and pathetic.
Click to expand...


Kind of like Jodie Foster was asking for it when she dressed all slutty and played pinball right?
 
They bought a story, not a phone.

They didn't buy the phone. They didn't plan on keeping it and using it as their primary phone.

They purchased the story. Apple asked for it back and they gave it.

With all this "legal" speculation, next time they should just pay the guy to hold it while they take photos and have him take it apart so they can get photos. Then they guy could leave with the phone and Apple still wouldn't have it.

Actually, that's what they guy should have done. Probably could have double-dipped and got a reward too!!!

I retract my statements if it turns out the guy actually stole the phone (as in, not found it) by taking it out of the guy's pocket or not while he was looking....

Gary
http://GarySaid.com/
 
garylapointe said:
They didn't buy the phone. They didn't plan on keeping it and using it as their primary phone.

They purchased the story. Apple asked for it back and they gave it.
Click to expand...

Not before they took it apart. Not before they published trade secrets.

I, for one, would be pretty pissed if someone broke into my car, drove it around for awhile, took pictures of the contents of my trunk and published it, and then gave it back when I "asked for it back."
 
garylapointe said:
They didn't buy the phone. They didn't plan on keeping it and using it as their primary phone.
Click to expand...

I'm reading the California Penal Code relevant to this mastter and I don't see a section that excepts the paying of currency for property you know doesn't belong to the seller (which, you are reasonably required to investigate if there are suspect circumstances- i.e. somebody telling you they have an unreleased device from a secretive company) if you really meant to return it.

It seems clear cut. They broke the law when they bought the phone and knew employee had it (so it was Apple's or his, the point is they knew it wasn't the seller's property). As if that weren't bad enough, they checked the USB IDs and were reasonably sure the device was real before paying $5K to take possession it.
 
I boycot Gizmodo since this. I don't blame them for putting a prototype online, or even from stealing it. That is what rumor sites get a kick from. That is still considered fun. It is just a damn phone.. a Gadget. We can all laugh about it. But the line got crossed when they put someones full name online. That has nothing to do with being a good rumor side, or being a good journalist. It was low, cheap and not needed. So yes if Apple take them down, I would't sleep less from it ;)

With kind regards,
Bas
 
garylapointe said:
I retract my statements if it turns out the guy actually stole the phone (as in, not found it) by taking it out of the guy's pocket or not while he was looking....
Click to expand...

He did steal the phone. I know it has been said countless times in this thread, but here goes...

California Law defines theft as "484. (a) Every person who shall feloniously steal, take, carry, lead, or drive away the personal property of another...is guilty of theft."

From: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=pen&group=00001-01000&file=484-502.9

He is guilty of theft, regardless of whether the Apple employee left the phone in the bar or not. He carried the phone away from the establishment.
 
alfmil said:
I'd like to see some proof that Apple is the actual owner. It was also rumored to be a Japanese knock off. I would have thought it more likely to be a Chinese knock off. Or someone could have been counterfeiting an iPhone. Let's see Apple release some proof that it is theirs.
Click to expand...

1) iTunes recognized it as an iphone, which wouldn't happen with a knockoff
2) the internal parts were chock full of apple trademarks and partnumbers that correspond to things like the A4 processor.
3) apple claimed it was their's and asked for it back

That would be a pretty elaborate knockoff
 
SirHaakon said:
I'm not defending theft. I don't see this as theft. I also have little sympathy for people who get trashed and do stupid things.
Click to expand...

Good thing we dont have such logical people as you working in our court systems. You can think whatever you want, because our law thinks otherwise.

Reading through some of these comment here and on other sites about the story, it never ceases to amaze me just how ignorant most people are on the Internet.
 
yg17 said:
Law enforcement doesn't have better crap to waste their time on? :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

This is for show . Which should suit Apple just fine - a nice deterrent effect should anyone mislay anything again, they'll perhaps follow the Sec 2080 of the Civil Code "duties of a finder"... which doesn't preclude taking photos of the lost article before you take it to the police / sheriff's dept, so it's not all that Apple could hope for.
 
I bet they are rushing around like blue arsed flies in the design department to come up with something that looks as different as possible from the prototype yet still fits the hardware.:D
 
Adidas Addict said:
I bet they are rushing around like blue arsed flies in the design department to come up with something that looks as different as possible from the prototype yet still fits the hardware.:D
Click to expand...

I wouldn't be surprised to see something with a completely different design, but that would be pretty intense just in spite of others.
 
Salacion said:
Sigh. Your idiocy lies in your inability to understand that jragosta's comment on "disclosure" does not directly relate to Gizmodo unveiling of the prototype.
Click to expand...

Sigh. Here we go. Emphasis mine.

SAD*FACED*CLOWN said:
No one will be arrested for this "crime", and Apple won't sue either...what damages has Apple suffered as a result of this? what damages would they be seeking to recover? That is the basis of a Civil law suit, recovering damages...The only thing that could possibly happen is Apple will blackball Gizmodo from it's events...Surely the seller and Gizmodo could be charged with larceny, and recieving stolen goods respectively, but no one will be convicted of anything...why? BECAUSE APPLE LOST THE PHONE and attempts were made to return it before it was sold
Click to expand...

So, jragosta says in response (note that he only replied to a portion of it, emphasis mine):
jragosta said:
SAD*FACED*CLOWN said:
No one will be arrested for this "crime", and Apple won't sue either...what damages has Apple suffered as a result of this?
Click to expand...
Only disclosure of their trade secrets to the competition. How many millions of dollars do you think it's worth to the competition to have a 2 month head start on Apple?
Click to expand...

Are you seriously saying you beleive jragosta was referring to the sale of the device itself (which we didn't find out about until after Gizmodo broke the story) and not the public unveiling by Gizmodo?
 
thatrandomguy said:
Are you seriously saying you beleive jragosta was referring to the sale of the device itself (which we didn't find out about until after Gizmodo broke the story) and not the public unveiling by Gizmodo?
Click to expand...

OMG!

Please tell me where I'm "referring" to the "sale" of the device. I'll save you the trouble; I didn't say that.
 
I used to look forward to jury duty service. But this topic has proven that there's no way I can remotely consider subjecting myself to jury duty ever again. Since the last time I served (3 years ago), the American population has obviously reached never before seen levels of moronic stupidity!

Did I really read that someone honestly believes in "Finders Keepers" as some sort of legal principle? :eek:

Absolutely ***** amazing!

Mark
 
IHateSteveJobs said:
gizmodo was doing their job.

So if you stumpled on this u would bend over and turn it over to apple?
Click to expand...

Considering I would be legally liable? Yes. It's also the decent thing to do (and I say it as a person who does not own a Mac or iPhone).

I *may* have taken it from the bar (Assuming I used the guy's facebook to tell him I found the lost phone). People lie about **** all the time, and I'd want to give the device back personally.

If it bricked before I got in touch with the guy, in what actually happened, I had his name. I could have searched him publicly on Facebook - and I don't need to be his friend to send him a message through Facebook.

Let's say his Facebook was private. At the point where I removed the case and saw the Apple branding on a device I knew wasn't on the market, I'd contact Apple.

He did that, you say. Not in any reasonable way. I have a friend-of-a-friend who knows somebody at Apple who is above AppleCare support (not anything like a CxO, but up the food chain). And if I didn't know her, Steve Jobs' email is public. With a company as secretive as Apple, you bet Jobs was told about the lost phone immediately.

Failing all of that- I'd give it to the cops. People file missing items reports all the time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back