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

[Rocketman]

The DA would get more mileage for "justice" if instead of arrests and convictions, they issued a "report" on what the parties did, where they went wrong, what they should have done or could have done. That report will be more public and read by more people worldwide than would be impacted or influenced by a procedural treatment of this issue.

Maybe have a plea bargain that the "bad actors" be required to go on TV and promote the report and endorse it.

Police regularly hang their hat on the principal of deterrence. A worldwide audience fixated on this issue learning something about the law and its consequences would go a bunch farther than a trial held mostly in private and a 6 month jail sentence for the folks at issue.

Rocketman

 

[AtlasBoy]

What happened to:

FINDER's KEEPERS

That idiot should have had it chained to his ass and then he would have to worry about being so wasted that he 'lost' it

Is FINDERS KEEPERS in the California penal code? If so I missed it.

While Apple's Cupertino HQ is in Santa Clara County, the Apple engineer left the phone in a bar in Redwood City, California, which is in San Mateo County. Wonder if that makes any difference.

The CNET report said the San Mateo county police are involved too. I'm not sure where the GIZ employees are, but I would expect law enforcement there will be involved at some point. Does anyone know if the GIZ staff are in California or did the transaction cross state lines??

Please explain to me how someone losing an item, another finding it equates to theft.

Did you read the article or any of the numerous reports on California law? If not, that would be a good place to start.

 

[strike1555]

Gizmodo broke no laws. It's not their responsibility to do a background check on a device they bought. All they knew at the time that it was a "device."

However, the guy who found it might be in some trouble.

 

[MacGiver]

All this becomes ridiculous...

 

[nwcs]

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

It's starting in criminal court probably, not civil court.

 

[Tesseract]

A few things here. First of all, this is a CRIMINAL case, not a CIVIL one - so Apple won't have a big part to play.

Second, It depends on if the law decides that a "reasonable" effort was made to return the device to the owner on the part of the finder (I'm pretty sure Cali has a law resembling this).

Third, and a bit more complex, is the issue of Gizmodo buying the device. Could be considered as trafficking in stolen goods, could also just be considered pawning.

Nothing serious will probably happen, but I'm a bit inclined to hope that Gizmodo at least gets in serious trouble. I, for one, am a bit tired of Gizmodo abusing their power and being all around "lack of accountability" jack-monkeys.

 

[UnseenLlama]

No. I'd consider myself a moron for losing it and you an prick for not at least returning my cards. You could even take all the cash.

Well, you're right about one thing.

 

[11800506]

From the same crowd that endlessly speculates & breaks down every supposed Best Buy inventory screen shot & NOW you are mad someone gave you a legit sneak peek two months early???? Give it a rest people. The engineer is a Apple employee= HE IS APPLE. APPLE LOST THE PHONE. APPLE IGNORED MULTIPLE REQUESTS TO RETURN THE DEVICE. APPLE NEEDS TO SHUT UP & GO BACK TO COUNTING THEIR MONEY.

I think, at least from my perspective, I would rather not have had the full phone leaked because it ruins the sense of anticipation come WWDC. People like having inventories and sketchy pictures because it gives them an inside perspective without ruining it for them. I know it may sound ridiculous, but I would rather have that than know fully what the device is before it's released.

 

[twilson]

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

You are joking right?

The damage Apple has suffered are certainly loss of their "trade secrets" and the associated stock price related benefit that this would have garnered at official release time (although stock price benefit would be hard to equate).

And seeing as it involves "trade secrets" it makes it a criminal case, as many have already suggested. So jail time could follow.

 

[Consultant]

finders Keepers, Losers Weepers!!!

What happened to:

FINDER's KEEPERS

That idiot should have had it chained to his ass and then he would have to worry about being so wasted that he 'lost' it

Children's phrase =/= law.

 

[satcomer]

It's time to take these jerks to task for outing the engineer. They admitted they knew who the engineer was (even posting his FaceBook page) and still took the iPhone apart for page hits.

Their story is so full of holes it won't stand up in court.

 

[jtara]

What happened to:

FINDER's KEEPERS

What happened is that most of us graduated from Kindergarten.

 

[al256]

If I picked up your wallet with a photo id and your address and didn't attempt to contact you, would you consider me a thief?

Wallet?? Really? It wasn't his phone. It's Apple's phone, Apple requested it back. Stretching for an example, he borrowed the company car and left the keys in the ignition. Then the car got returned to Apple, after Apple's request. It's not like a wallet by any means.

 

[trrosen]

I can hear the iPhone finder saying in court - not that it would ever get that far - "Yeah, the Apple guy sold it to me for $800 cash. He said I'd get a $5000 reward from Apple if I returned it. I tried to phone Apple the next day to return it. but they didn't want to know, so I sold it to the tech website to get my money back".
Then you need to understand that as a defendant he doesn't need to prove any of that.

Yeah confessing to trafficking in stolen goods, conspiracy and fraud would really help his case. Thats much better. That way he would have three felonies and a cushy life long stay in the CA penal system due to their three stikes laws. He better get a lawyer thats a lot smarter than you.

 

[satcomer]

What happened is that most of us graduated from Kindergarten.

+1 . I am thinking this too.

 

[splashnader]

Did you even read the article?

From CNET:

"Under a California law dating back to 1872, any person who finds lost property and knows who the owner is likely to be but "appropriates such property to his own use" is guilty of theft. If the value of the property exceeds $400, more serious charges of grand theft can be filed. In addition, a second state law says that any person who knowingly receives property that has been obtained illegally can be imprisoned for up to one year.

Any prosecution would be complicated because of the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of the press: the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2001 that confidential information leaked to a news organization could be legally broadcast, although that case did not deal with physical property and the radio station did not pay its source.”

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20003308-37.html

Yup. And that is why I was saying that I think Gizmodo will probably skate free. However, the guy that sold the phone is basically royally screwed.

 

[allpar]

Apparently the idea that the guy who grabbed the phone might be lying about how he acquired it hasn't grabbed any traction?

And yes, I HAVE returned at least one wallet with all money intact AND one computer by tracing the owners. But you know, I'm reasonably honest and have reasonable priorities. My integrity is worth more than $5,000.

By the way, yes, Gizmodo can be charged as the receiver of stolen property. If I show up at your doorstep with a computer that has someone else's name on it and say I just found it, would you buy it from me, or would you assume I'd stolen it?

 

[Aranince]

I love how the morality of this world has dropped to "taking something that is not yours" is OK. Shameful.

 

[Trius]

wait...

...what is all of this talk about the iPhone? What is Gizmodo?

 

[MacFly123]

Good. I hope they throw the book at Gizmodo.

I hope Apple sues Gizmodo. I hope there is a surprise for us at WWDC.

The shady part is that the person who "found" the phone know who the owner is (he claimed to have found the guy's facebook info on the phone), but did not try to contact the apple engineer to return the device.

AMEN! They are BOTH at fault here. Gizmodo AND the crook who sold a phone that was NOT his for $5,000.00! We are going to see legal action here I guarantee it!

I can't wait to see what Steve says about all this at the unveiling haha! I also hope that iChat camera really makes it into the final product and we have at least some other nice little surprise!

 

[Tesseract]

The DA would get more mileage for "justice" if instead of arrests and convictions, they issued a "report" on what the parties did, where they went wrong, what they should have done or could have done. That report will be more public and read by more people worldwide than would be impacted or influenced by a procedural treatment of this issue.

Maybe have a plea bargain that the "bad actors" be required to go on TV and promote the report and endorse it.

Police regularly hang their hat on the principal of deterrence. A worldwide audience fixated on this issue learning something about the law and its consequences would go a bunch farther than a trial held mostly in private and a 6 month jail sentence for the folks at issue.

Rocketman

Its not the law's responsibility to spin what the media will say about them. The law is the law. Action and consequence. If there's never any consequence (i.e. if all that happens is a notice gets released) - that's a free pass for any and all action, since there will never be any consequence. Don't blame the law when the media is at fault.

 

[saxamoophone]

I know. It's ridiculous. People complain about Apple's secrecy and spend their time on a rumors site for Apple, and then as soon as there's a leak, they complain that it's unfair to Apple

. I know right! If Apple wants somebody to blame, they only have to look at their drunk employee. He f@#$ed up.

The person who found the phone contacted Apple (who owned the device NOT the drunk employee). This is legally correct. The Engineer did NOT own the device.

Let me repeat this: Apple (the owner) said they it was not theirs.

So while you we got ethically merky with the $5000, not checking in at the bar, and everything else...the bottom line is this: Apple (the owner) turned the device away. When Apple said "oh no, it is ours afterall!," it was returned.

Better luck next time Apple!

 

[twilson]

Is FINDERS KEEPERS in the California penal code?

No, it's in the same book as "downloading illegal music isn't stealing because nobody has actually been deprived of anything"

Just some ******** morality that people apply to justify doing what they know to be wrong.

 

[baryon]

I imagine this black car pulling up to Gizmodo's offices with two Matrix-agent like people stepping out, going up to the Gizmodo guy and asking him "Have you got the prototype?". Then the Gizmodo guy hands over an envelope with a device in it, which the agents check and realise that it's a fake. "You think you can fool us? We had a deal!" then they start shooting in slow motion and stuff, they catch the Gizmodo guy, who then later wakes up tied up. Then Steve Jobs appears: "Now listen, I'm only going to ask this once: Where is the prototype?" Then Bruce Willis appears, etc etc... And at the end they upload the virus at the last second, disabling all the clones and freeing humanity. Lots of unnecessary explosions and stuff in between. The movie's title should be "The Unreleased".

 

[.Andy]

I love how the morality of this world has dropped to "taking something that is not yours" is OK. Shameful.

You think this is a new occurrence in the world?