Police Seize Gizmodo Editor's Computers and Other Property Related to Lost Next-Generation iPhone

[*LTD*]

I agree 110%.

Giz did this pretty shaddy, but they did return it to apple.

Don't forget that Apple had to *demand* its return. Not only did it take a demand from Apple for Gizmodo to return what wasn't theirs, they also took it apart and posted it for everyone to see in the process.

Further, Gizmodo did quite a number on Gray Powell.

 

[drummingcraig]

Deleted.

 

[rwilliams]

I won't lie - I enjoyed the hell out of Gizmodo's photos and videos of the phone.

 

[goMac]

Gizmodo is trying to argue that they're protected under a law protecting news story sources, when really they're under investigation for receiving stolen property.

If they had just written about what someone else told them about the iPhone 4G, then they'd be covered. But by buying it they received stolen property, and it's no longer considered a case of them getting information from a confidential source.

If someone robbed a bank and then gave the money to a newspaper, the newspaper wouldn't be covered if they accepted the stolen goods, and even worse, made us of the stolen goods without returning it.

 

[fleshman03]

Just for the sake of completeness I really hope Giz get nailed to the wall. Their chequebook journalism leaves a bad taste in the mouth but their exposing of the poor schlub who lost it, both naming him and publishing his picture, was ethically despicable and a clear attempt to boost their own readership by throwing him under the bus. For that alone I'd love to see them get a massive smackdown from the courts.

Even you called it journalism. The first amendment assures this person the right to publish what he wants and the government the inability to compel him.

Should the government have issued search warrants to find out who published the Pentagon Papers? What if Gizmodo published them?

 

[ouimetnick]

Please let me know which bar you tend to patronize. I'd like to wait for you to have a couple of drinks and then I'll steal your car and sell it. Because, you know, you'll totally deserve it.



Um, after tearing it apart and posting photos of it for the world to see?

Spare us the "Giz did the right thing" nonsense.

I don't drink. I'm too young. My Uncle doesn't either. my parents have NEVER gotten drunk when ever I'm around them at least. They have never been charged with drunk driving, or any other Felony.

 

[JediZenMaster]

been an avid mac user for well over a decade here, there used to be thousands of reasons for brand loyalty in my eyes. in the past 2 years tho every single one of them have disappeared. i've sold over 20 apple products in attempts to completely wash my hands of this company. they have lost interest in developing products that are enjoyable and consumer friendly, and are now focused on screwing their customers and raking in as much dough as possible at the expensive of everything that ever made them good. this is the nail in the coffin for me. first the app store, and it's closed nature, it's censorship, now this...cmon apple, you are a brazen joke. i don't care if you are so rich you can't see over the stacks of your gold coins. nobody interested in the furthering of technology from a consumer friendly point of view thinks your policies or products are worth a dime. you can keep selling this nonsense to the ed hardy tshirt wearing retards, but times will catch up. you've made enemies of adobe and google, and don't think they're ready to destroy you, and capable of doing it also. you're selling a device that you market as a way to get news content and a journalistic freedom tool. however you ban newspaper articles, editorial comments, and pulitzer prize winning articles from your device, THEN you violate the constitution by having an illegal police search of a journalists home just for reporting on a device that YOU lost. get over yourself apple. i sincerely hate your company, and no, i'm not an android, blackberry, windows, linux fanboy. i'm a hurt post-apple fanboy and i'm grotesquely disgusted with your politicts on and off the 'tech field' maybe you should start worrying about developing new products instead of censoring content, you haven't really released a new product in 4 years, the iphone/ipod have barely changed and the ipad is just an enlarged version, even running the identical OS. your new imacs have major cause for quality concerns, and your brand spanking new macbook line are heating up to over 217 degrees F. can't wait for that myriad of issues to start hitting tech blogs. spend more time worry about what YOUR'E doing and not journalists. or just go away forever.

A crime was commited and the police have an duty to do what they need to do.

For Example if i get drunk and get a DUI and someone get's hurt. Even if those parties dont want to press charges. The police would still have to arrest me and charge me. And while what happened isnt anything that killed anyone. It's still the same process.

You break the law and even if the parties involved drop the charges or don't pursue it. It STILL LEGALLY has to be done. Now i suggest you take a crap and release the bug thats in your ass

 

[Davidkoh]

Who would believe that Apple would just hand over a new iPhone to someone and say go sale it to the tabloids for 5k. And on top of that who would pay 5K for a phone unless they thought they were getting some serious trade secrets. This entire discussion is about if they knew. Of course they knew. Its not a question about if it was a crime it is more about how serious of a crime was committed.

Well, they couldn't be sure if it was the real deal UNTIL they opened it really, since Apple is retarded and do not mark them as prototypes.

I think they were pretty smart, logically they had to do what they did to find out for sure if it was real.

 

[admanimal]

<snip irrelevant rant>

Why is it so hard for people to understand that the state, not Apple, decides when to pursue a criminal investigation? Apple has no choice or say in the matter. Apple can choose whether or not to sue Gizmodo (i.e. pursue a civil case), but that is not what is going on here.

 

[Cartaphilus]

They asked Apple if they owned it. Apple said it wasn't theirs. They put photos up of it. Apple said "Just kidding, it's ours." They gave it back to apple.

Never happened. If this thief wanted to return the test iPhone to Apple or to the Apple employee who had possession of it, there are a dozen much more effective ways to go about it than to lob a call into AppleCare, which, if it even happened, is all anyone is claiming the finder of this phone did. Just leaving his contact information with the manager of the bar would have been enough to get the phone back to its owner. Gizmodo could have sent a fax to Apple's general counsel with a photo of the unique identification code attached to the back of the phone. Instead the thief couldn't pocket $5,000 for the phone fast enough, and Gizmodo couldn't wait to take the phone apart and go to print with it fast enough.

Don't tell me these people had any real interest in making sure Apple or the engineer got the phone back, and the only reason they were unsuccessful is that Apple told them they had decided to abandon it. A person would have to be a complete idiot to believe that.

 

[timelord410]

After the fact? Apple have their phone. What more do they want? ...

To recover as much gathered and stored data regarding the trade secrets Gizmodo aired to the world to cease their ability to cause further damage to Apple's business…. I'm just sayin'

 

[katiepea]

A crime was commited and the police have an duty to do what they need to do.

For Example if i get drunk and get a DUI and someone get's hurt. Even if those parties dont want to press charges. The police would still have to arrest me and charge me. And while what happened isnt anything that killed anyone. It's still the same process.

You break the law and even if the parties involved drop the charges or don't pursue it. It STILL LEGALLY has to be done. Now i suggest you take a crap and release the bug thats in your ass

like i said, apples fanbase have become the socially irresponsible, and morally bankrupt. i'm not an idiot, no crime was commited, and you are probably the dumbest person i've talked to all month.

 

[saxamoophone]

Um, after tearing it apart and posting photos of it for the world to see?

Spare us the "Giz did the right thing" nonsense.

The picture taking was fine. It's just how they got it which is questionable.

They should have met with the guy, realize it was legit... Take photos... And then tell him to return it or call the cops. The exchange of money and lack of contacting apple first will be their downfall.

 

[cmaier]

Anyone find this tidbit interesting?

"...internet history, cache history, and/or Internet Pages pertaining to searches and/or research conducted on Apple employee Gray Powell."

Not sure why they would be interested in this or why it would be relevant/criminal, unless it was Apple who pushed for this warrant, and they are also trying to get Gizmodo on charges of libel (defaming Gray Powell).

Libel is not a criminal offense. The police have nothing to do with that.

 

[Will do good]

**** you Apple.

What's your problem? If your stuff is stolen would you want it back? Stop being a jerk.

 

[Takeo]

It's not really stealing, did the guy have bad intentions who found it? After all, he asked around before he took it.

We don't know that... do we. The guy who found it hasn't even been found. And according to witnesses (the bar and the guy who's phone it was)... there was no attempt made to return it.

 

[willie0683]

been an avid mac user for well over a decade here, there used to be thousands of reasons for brand loyalty in my eyes. in the past 2 years tho every single one of them have disappeared. i've sold over 20 apple products in attempts to completely wash my hands of this company. they have lost interest in developing products that are enjoyable and consumer friendly, and are now focused on screwing their customers and raking in as much dough as possible at the expensive of everything that ever made them good. this is the nail in the coffin for me. first the app store, and it's closed nature, it's censorship, now this...cmon apple, you are a brazen joke. i don't care if you are so rich you can't see over the stacks of your gold coins. nobody interested in the furthering of technology from a consumer friendly point of view thinks your policies or products are worth a dime. you can keep selling this nonsense to the ed hardy tshirt wearing retards, but times will catch up. you've made enemies of adobe and google, and don't think they're ready to destroy you, and capable of doing it also. you're selling a device that you market as a way to get news content and a journalistic freedom tool. however you ban newspaper articles, editorial comments, and pulitzer prize winning articles from your device, THEN you violate the constitution by having an illegal police search of a journalists home just for reporting on a device that YOU lost. get over yourself apple. i sincerely hate your company, and no, i'm not an android, blackberry, windows, linux fanboy. i'm a hurt post-apple fanboy and i'm grotesquely disgusted with your politicts on and off the 'tech field' maybe you should start worrying about developing new products instead of censoring content, you haven't really released a new product in 4 years, the iphone/ipod have barely changed and the ipad is just an enlarged version, even running the identical OS. your new imacs have major cause for quality concerns, and your brand spanking new macbook line are heating up to over 217 degrees F. can't wait for that myriad of issues to start hitting tech blogs. spend more time worry about what YOUR'E doing and not journalists. or just go away forever.

Oh thats pretty bitter of you. First, I want to tell you that is how I felt when Apple moved to Intel. I have reevaluated my beliefs and now see the great improvement that the switch has done. I understand how you feel about Apple being more money hungry then ever, but I do need to defend them and the way they are creating new products. Look at the iPad, iPhone, and the ipod nano. Now we have new notebooks running at amazing speeds compared to 10 years ago. But with all of these feeling we must remember that Apple is a business with stockholders and must work for them also. Finding the balance is tricky and sometimes they can't, but they are trying. I still support Apple fully. In this situation I also support Apple.

 

[ouimetnick]

I sure hope if I lose my phone with my "trade secret" application I wrote, but haven't released yet, the police track down the culprits and break in their doors SWAT style!

Simple. Don't lose your phone. i've NEVER lost my phone before. I also would be EXTRA careful if I had important info like a magical and revolutionary App on it.

 

[ipure]

apple's stupid secrecy policy went over the head, this leak is ****ing well-deserved if you have to ask me.

Gizmodo isn't clean on this one either, they knew it's from apple and they knew it's next gen apple from the very start. how else would they pay 5-****ing-thousand dollars if it's not 4th gen iphone prototype.

but still, **** apple **** secrecy. more leaks ftw

 

[JediZenMaster]

like i said, apples fanbase have become the socially irresponsible, and morally bankrupt. i'm not an idiot, no crime was commited, and you are probably the dumbest person i've talked to all month.

I'm not even going to argue with you because you don't understand the legal system. Your the dumbest person around because if it was up to you people would be allowed to get away with things

 

[quagmire]

*Bolding Mine*

What Gizmodo did was certainly questionable behavior, but frankly...I am tired of seeing the "stolen property" argument come into play. Unless you personal know the individual(s) who found the phone at the bar and were there with them and can attest otherwise, its only fair to believe their story (for now). They claim to have asked around the bar for the owner before giving up, and not only that but they attempted to contact Apple directly to return the damn thing (to no avail). The phone was bricked the next day so they had no way of double checking the (suspected) owners info or get his number. Short of driving to Apple and walking in there with the thing, I would say that they made an honest effort to return it. You act like they picked the thing out of the guy's pocket and then FedEx'd it to Gizmodo the next morning.

Saying, " Is this yours? Is this yours?" or " Do you know whose this is?" and then taking it out of the bar, and calling Apple's tech support who would not know what to do in that situation is not enough to make selling the prototype legal. Before the iPhone got bricked, the seller had the guys facebook info. He could have contacted him through facebook on his own computer or left a message using his own account while the phone wasn't bricked to say I found your iPhone. There was a whole lot more this person could have done, but didn't. He made a lame ass attempt to return it.

 

[willie0683]

Well, they couldn't be sure if it was the real deal UNTIL they opened it really, since Apple is retarded and do not mark them as prototypes.

I think they were pretty smart, logically they had to do what they did to find out for sure if it was real.

OK, but what logical business man would drop 5K to find out if something was real?

 

[mdatwood]

NEWSFLASH: Criminal investigations are conducted by the governing public authority and Apple has nothing to do with this.

Idiot.

While that's true there also has to be some sort of complaint. Cases are dropped all the time because the accuser decides against pressing charges or going forward with a criminal case.

 

[admanimal]

no crime was commited,

You should probably provide the police with this irrefutable evidence that no crime was committed that you obviously have.

 

[antbikerjl]

Based on the search warrant documentation, a good lawyer could argue that the warrant's search is "too broad." Within a warrant document, especially search warrants, the SPECIFIC AREA and ITEMS must be presented. For example, you can not say "the whole house will be searched" such as what is pretty much contained within this search warrant. In other words, the search carried out is not valid and can be argued if any evidence was found. So in other words, this police search and seizure was done illegally and will be thrown out in a heartbeat unless exigent circumstances come into play, which of course, there won't be any due to the nature of this so called "crime."

It is funny, no matter how many warrants are produced, the police still do not realize that their search warrants must be incredibly specific and can not contain "generalities" within. My advice, get a lawyer and watch this case go out the window while Gizmodo bathes in the free-press! I think the judge who issued this warrant should be fired or fined heavily, as he obviously does not know the code of law regarding search warrants and the protections given from the 4th amendment and case-law...