Epic dumbness
Look, I've already copped probably a few too many warnings from the Admin of this site for being insulting to people, so I'll just refrain... sort of... by saying....
FFS you lot. Get a Fraken clue.
Some of the claims I've read here from you guys has well and truly crossed the line into the realms of the absurd.
Firstly, all you armchair analysts are basing your opinions on the SFWeekly 'Report'. An online newspaper that has as one of it's current top stories an article titled 'Annoyed Neighbor Is Beaten While Photographing Bar Patrons Puking'. And lets not forget their other big story 'Hells Angels Accuse Amazon.com of Being the Outlaw'.
I read the article before we saw the retraction article afterwards, and thought 'This is a load of tabloid tosh'. It's an example of the butt end of journalism. Facts substantiated by others, and opinions based on someone else's opinion.
It's total rubbish. I haven't seen anyone question the logic of the story progression as far as the SF police is concerned. If you recall, the original story broke because 'someone close to the matter in the SF police' leaked it, only for the SF police to then have 'not been involved', for it to eventually come full circle again. With this smorgasbord of rubbish, I'm not sure how any of you can feel confident to comment.
Secondly, you've made assumptions about how Apple tracked the device to this guys home which is based on your limited understanding on how 'Find my iPhone' works. I'm guessing that if there is an ex cop involved with chasing this, they would have checked with other areas first. Like pursuing data off craigslist as well.
Third, you've made absurdly huge assumptions about everyone involved. The victim has gone from thief to 'underdog' in 50 lines or less. There's calls for the guy to 'get paid heaps' for what happened... I'm guessing most of you have a mental image of the guy's house being ransacked, smashed vases and paperwork strewn everywhere as though he'd been burgled. I don't recall seeing any report of the guy actually being assaulted. He voluntarily let them into his home FFS.
Over here in Australia, we don't always wait for someone to have a warrant before we let police in through my front door. Why always be so confrontational? Especially if you have nothing to hide. Heck, if the police DID find something, and they were forced to go and get a warrant in the first place, it would go against you in the prosecution, indicating your non compliance.
Then there's the absurd and stupid claims:
'Police shouldn't get involved in a civil matter'. Oh really, what are the police for again? Oh right... civil matters. They're certainly not there to just bust drug dealers, kick down the doors of murderers and attend to Liquor store robberies.
'It was just a phone'. It's not just a phone. It's an unreleased product, which the competitors will do anything to get their hands on. This could potentially cost an industry leading company millions of dollars. And that's millions of dollars that would be sapped directly out of your economy if an overseas product were to be first past the post with a new technology. With the U.S. economy faltering, this puts products like this on the crucial edge. This will affect all of you, not just the rich.
Now, I don't pretend to know anything about U.S. law, but I do know that it is fanciful to think that the police wouldn't get involved. Just because the information from the SF Police has conflicted, doesn't mean that this is an indication of some kind of wider conspiracy theory. Police forces are complex organisations, and public relations bodies don't always know what investigations bodies are doing. Often this information takes potentially days to filter through channels. You've gotta remember that any developed police force in the world is structured around a bureaucracy. And although this might be hard to understand in the information age; you just don't get instant answers from a bureaucracy. Here in Australia, we'd have to fill out a FOI request and fight with politicians for 6 months just to get even this much comment from the police. During an investigation the police aren't exactly obligated to tell the public everything...
end rant. For now.