Apple sends cops to raid Gizmodo editor's house

That Iphone was planted and this was planned all to make the Iphone appear to be a bigger deal then it is. Look at the Ipod that was released on ebay then taken off. I am still trying to understand the big deal about the ipad... you have a enlarged IPHONE....UMMMM....Hello. Apple fans are dumb bastards.
Even if this REALLY happened....for real....Yes.....I think that as long as they returned it...no harm no foul...if you lose your cell with some providers it locked no good anyways... you might as well throw it away. Screw Apple anyways. They suck!

"The fact is the police overstepped their bounds using a warrant obtained by false information presented to the judge. They lied but hey, thats just common practice. As a consequnce of these cops lieing to obtain the warrant, any charges they do bring will be thrown out unless Jobs throws some money at the Judge which is fairly common in New Yuck but in Kaliforeignia, I just don't know about. We'll see what happens."

Absolute and utter nonsense. I see no evidence in the warrant or otherwise that says Apple did any such thing as submitting a false affidavit or complaint. If they had asserted that Gizmodo had the device how do you know when Apple had filed a complaint (before or after they got it back)? You don't, really. You assertions are baseless and you have no facts.

As far as others like Frank asserting roughly, "Hey, they got their device back what are they complaining about? No harm."--so I bust you over the head with a lead pipe; you recover. No harm right?

This is not a defense of Steve Jobs or Apple wrt. their products or business practices. This nonsense about making excuses for Gizmodo and the thief are just a bit too much. It's not about revenge; it's not about sending a message; it's not about intimidation; it's about justice damn it! If they did what they themselves have said they did then they deserve felony convictions, a hefty fine, and a few months in the slammer.

All these stirring moral arguments concerning the ethical aspects of these events make one big assumption: that any of the parties involved were operating under their own FREE WILL. This may not be the case at all:

- Chen was heavily exposed to Apple propaganda (advertising, products, being forced to do reviews on same). After a certain amount of this, any human mind would snap:

Anon. phone caller: "Hey Chen, wanna buy a new iPhone 4G for 50 Benjamins?"

Chen: "New iPhone...must have...please take my money" (running same script as used in the many visits to the Apple Store).

Then when Chen got his new treasure, he photographed his "new baby" like a proud father, for all the world to see. He is probably still tortured by the grieving process after being forced to give it back. So, Chen could have just been a victim of Apple consumer-programming, and not been responsible for his actions at all (good defence for his lawyer to attempt, in any case).

As for the police, they were probably all remote-controlled by their iPhone's reality distortion fields, suddenly amped up to mind-numbing levels by Jobs Himself. I bet if you asked them if they remembered the events of that evening, you would just get a blank stare.

Moral reasoning can only be "reasonably" applied to entities operating under free will. So it is "possible" that none of these people was in control of themselves for any of these events (at least, no more in control of themselves than are any Apple victims, I mean "customers").

(...so your Honour, we thus request all charges against everyone be dropped, and that Apple be forced to fund recovery programs for Mr. Chen and all others afflicted by Apple's corporate brain-washing program.)

So, Apple sent Gizmodo a letter demanding the device be returned, and AFTER it's returned, THEN Apple sicks the cops on this journalist? There is something wrong with that. On the other side of it, did Chen not consult with his employer's legal department before somehow buying the device and posting about it all over the web? Who actually paid for it? I'd hate to think Chen was stupid enough to pay for it with his own money. It would make more sense for Apple to sue Gizmodo's parent company for damages then send the cops to the editor's house to confiscate his computers. Remind me to never have my work place office in my home and write any speculative review of future Apple products. Apple has alienated customers who aren't a sleep at the wheel, and one of the company that made products that made Apple relevant (Adobe). Think Marketing firms are going to feel the need to over spend on Apple kit now? What's next, alienate Digidesign and users of ProTools? It does happen to run quite well on Windows.....

A few years ago I was indifferent to Apple and Jobs. After reading up on their underhanded business practices, I didn't care from them too much.
After reading this article, I absolutely despise them.
I'm sure there are many others that can't wait for something bad to happen to Jobs and Apple.
You have dug yourselves a nice grave, please lie down.

I don't think that there is any question that laws were broken here, both by Gizmodo and the guy who 'found' the phone. Both broke the law. There should be consequences.

I have a problem with jounalists being raided and information being taken by the state when, I believe, they can't do that in the US. Sources and stories need to be protected from the prying eyes of government. I believe that these tactics were undertaken simply because of the big corporation that had it's technlogy stolen.

Besides, Apple got their damned phone back so why the hell do they need computers and servers from some guys house?!?! The information that Gizmodo posted is out. It's too late. They can't take it back.

This is another case of big business controlling the state police for their own means. Intimidation comes to mind. This is a dangerous trend. (Are you listening MAFIAA?)

Although, this still better than their previous (alleged) tactics of throwing people out of windows. (No pun intended)

If this had been my phone (or yours) stolen we would be lucky to have a single cop come and talk to us to get our statement and we would never see it again.

I'd say Jobs mob has come along way in recent months, they've definitely toned down their behavior, thats for sure.

I'm not defending Apple or saint steve in any way, i'm not an iFanboy, i dont own any apple products, i never have, and i never will. I'm just simply point out a fact.

The last time an iphone prototype went missing the engineer responsible was thrown to his death from a 12th floor window.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/27/foxconn_badmouths_dead_engineer/

So using their past behavior as a baseline, i'd say they've made some improvements by only sending in the hounds, either that or the hack that found himself in saint steves crosshairs should thank his lucky stars that he wasnt home. they just might have thrown him out a window too...

I'm amazed by the number of idiots posting about this story.

Anyone with an ounce of sense could see this coming from a mile off.

The guy who found the phone should have handed it into the bar, the police, or made more effort to contact the kid that lost it (his facebook profile was on the phone - even Gizmodo had that information, despite the phone having been remotely disabled by Apple by the time they got hold of it).

Jason Chen's a plonker. Paying for something obviously stolen, then posting what amounts to trade secrets (c'mon, he dismantled it and posted the pics). Add to that he's a complete and utter cunt for getting all tabloid on Grey Powell.

A thief and a twat. Good enough reason to chuck em both behind bars for four seasons.

The fact is the police overstepped their bounds using a warrant obtained by false information presented to the judge. They lied but hey, thats just common practice. As a consequnce of these cops lieing to obtain the warrant, any charges they do bring will be thrown out unless Jobs throws some money at the Judge which is fairly common in New Yuck but in Kaliforeignia, I just don't know about. We'll see what happens.

This article and some of the subsequent comments are absolutely astounding.

Yes, according to California law this was a stolen phone, even if it was left on a bar stool--which I find very hard to believe unless the engineer was completely sloshed. Really, the only information that it was "lost" is Gizmodo's report of what the original perp had to say. Nothing more. For all we know the seller/perp nabbed it from the engineer's jacket pocket.

For the apologists--what do you think is the proper behavior here? I can tell you what a normal person would do: they'd give it to the bar tender. The moment that person walked out with the phone in his/her possession he/she was a thief. So let's cut through the BS. They may not, and claim to have not, known that this was a prototype when they nabbed it. Still, it was theft.

Gizmodo claims that the seller/perp called Apple support. This does not in itself constitute a good faith effort to return this phone. They claim they know who the phone's owner was because of the Facebook profile. Why not contact him directly? Why not drop it off at an Apple store? Why not return it to the bar where, apparently the engineer desperately called to see if it was there? Then he sold property that did not belong to him and Gizmodo paid for and received property that they knew was not the seller/perps. That's a crime. To add insult to injury they outted the poor engineer and we still don't know if it was "lost" due to negligence or "lifted".

@Coward "Even assuming it *was* stolen, (which is for a court to decide, and not you)... so the police seized all his computers - why exactly?

What the f**k was that, if not a blatant attempt to send a message to anyone else thinking of speaking out in the future?"

You're a crude and obviously stupid. Perhaps it was because they were collecting evidence on a crime? No, of course that would never enter your mind, would it?

Look, Gizmodo is not being persecuted because they reported on this phone. They are the target of an investigation because it appears that they are a party to criminal activity, independent of their journalistic activities.

Another example of the swift crushing hands of Apple, in their world of Police-states-Rules and no-can-do policies.

And it gets better; A crazy horde of fans defending them: on every single step on the way.

God save us all. :(

Gizmodo's problem here is that there's only one possible owner for a misplaced Apple engineering prototype and that is Apple. The original finder is in trouble because that $5,000 selling price sent a clear message that's who the owner was. Gizmodo is in trouble because at that point it was stolen property - lost property still belongs to the original owner and you need to return it if the owner is known.

Nevertheless, without suspicion that Gizmodo is trafficking other stolen property I see little point in the police raid.

Gizmodo is also vulnerable to a charge of trade secrets theft.

Actually California send cops in. Apple had nothing to do with this. The DA thought there was a criminal case so he got the warrant. Apparently the judge is holding the proceedings because he thinks the DA overstepped some bounds. Get your facts straight next time Nick... On second thought why don't you stop writing about Apple on a whole. You remind me about Charlie's rants about nVidia.

you are idiot, look what you've written: apple wants to control iTunes, AppStore, their OS - so what's wrong about it? those are their products. grow up

Stop buying Apple product!!! these people are controlled freaks!!! Apple wants to control everything from itunes, app store, and their OS to be installed only on Apple machines. what's next? the way you hold you spoon and forks?

Revenge tends to escelate. I see the beginning of the end for apple with google images flooded with hitler inspired Steve Job images. Methinks Stevey has had a relapse of cancer and it has spread to her brain.

clearly this is just a publicity stunt, despite the fact that that guy's house got raided. How do I know this? Because Gizmodo does nothing BUT push Apple products. I remember when the iphone came out, every single page of the site for weeks, if not months, before and after it's release were about 90% iphone articles.

let's face it; the ipad is not the big success Apple wanted, even the big media push didn't help it, so now they pulled this stunt with their best friends Gizmodo to keep their name in the news.

Just my 99 cents.

There's one way that would make Apple crave, simply don't acknowledge them, if you have a news site, don't put their stuff on the front page, just let them know that this shit isn't going to fly and if there's one thing they seem to hate it's less PR. Theinq however and other places should keep being critical of them.

The phone was returned!

Dictator Jobs has crossed the line!

Time to drop all Apple products, Buy Buy Itunes, QuickTime, Iphone, Ipad, Safari, anything apple!

Don't mess with freedom of speech!

Everyone is forgetting the facts here. It was not stolen. Just like you can't go to jail for grand theft auto if the person leaves the keys in the car.

The person left it in the wide open. It was fair game.

That is like saying you can get arrested for theft when you go to one of those restaurants that have the mints up by the counter. They don't say free, but it's implied by them laying around.

In a perfect world that would have been picked up by the cleaning crew thrown away as the trash that it is and about 2 months later some bum in a land fill would have found it and we would be back in the same boat again.

Jobs is an Ignorant – Arrogant piece of work that thinks he is better and deserves better than everyone else.

Why did they take his computers if they think he had a stolen phone? I suppose the next time I find a lost phone I should expect to have my PC taken away by the police?

Stupid.

"It was a stolen phone! It was a stolen phone! Ngyah ngyah ngyah!"

Even assuming it *was* stolen, (which is for a court to decide, and not you)... so the police seized all his computers - why exactly?

What the f**k was that, if not a blatant attempt to send a message to anyone else thinking of speaking out in the future?

And youre happy with corporations doing that, are you? You dont percieve any problems at all, no possible conflicts of interest, moral hazards or risks of corruption whatsoever?

Like I said. Government you deserve.

Because if Intel has been implanted its chip in everybody's brain, every kind of crime will be no more. I expect everything and everyone will be Intel inside.

... that some rights group takes this and Apple gets sued.

Not for the money, they have loads of it from stupid people, but because of the whole nazi thing going out in the press.

Of course, only the real press will publish it, so no US headlines I guess, or maybe only a few that know what their job is.

But then again, the US is not great in anything and have a closed indirect nazi regime so no biggie.

"four computers and two servers." - what servers are you talking about? I see on the list only one HP Media Server..hmm

"He didn't steal it, he was simply GIVEN it. An anonymous dude in a bar found it and handed it to Gizmodo, who gave it to Chen to review. He didn't steal anything, he just put it online. That's not illegal."

1) It was found in a bar, and under civil law in California the finder should have contacted the owner, or the police if he didn't know the owner.

2) He sold it instead. It wasn't his property to sell. Therefore it became stolen.

3) Gizmodo therefore were in possession of a stolen phone. And they knew it was stolen, no excuses about returning it to Apple stand up to scrutiny.

4) Gizmodo then vandalised the phone by dismantling it. It wasn't their property to dismantle.

Do I need to continue?

Apple slipped up and lost it's phone. Why is this such a big deal? When a big company loses something like a prototype in a BAR, what do they expect?

Police raids are only going to hurt Apple.

Clearly, Jobs is the reincarnation of Jesus and Can Do No Wrong. Does this mean that it is OK for Apple (or anyone else, for that matter - MAFIAA, everybody is looking at *you*) to abuse due process to (for example) harass journalists?

Seemingly so.

The reason we now have chickenshit laws like this, laws that let TPTB persecute citizens far in advance of any reasonable evidence-gathering, is precisely because imbeciles like Apple and their fanbois let it happen; because they fondly imagine that those laws will only ever be used against their "enemies". And by the time they discover otherwise, of course, its too late.

You get the government you deserve.

OK, everybody, weve all now got the government we deserve. They can *do* this - and theres *nothing* we can do about it.

Youve made your bed, now lie in it.

Regardless of your views on Apple, under California Law it was a stolen phone. He also paid for it and was not given it. After this, his disassembled it and posted photos about it, knowing that it was not legally his. There are, literally, hundreds of posts on the web about this, going back and forth about the legalities. However, the statement that "an anonymous dude in a bar found it and handed it to Gizmodo" is only correct that the name of the finder is not known, and he was in a bar at the time. The rest is speculation until the full facts come out.

the Apple reality distortion field. You can see it's opposite in play with Nick and some of the comments here.

The phone in question was lost BUT the finder didn't hand it to the bar (which is customary) or the local police (which is the requirement for an object of value if you can't trace the owner), he SOLD it to Gizmodo. Reputedly $5,000 changed hands. At that point it became theft and Gizmodo became guilty of handling stolen goods.

They didn't hand the phone back immediately, they photographed it from all angles, took it apart and generally analysed the heck out of it. When they finally got a letter from Apple's legal council they returned it.

Now the statutes over journalists protecting the source of stories don't render Gizmodo free from ANY criminal charges. The local police seem to have been a little overenthusiastic about following up a complain from Apple, but it's pretty certain that Gizmodo did violate the law.

Scott, read the article you f-cking retard. The guy had already given the phone back when they illegally raided the guy's house.

He didn't steal it, he was simply GIVEN it. An anonymous dude in a bar found it and handed it to Gizmodo, who gave it to Chen to review. He didn't steal anything, he just put it online. That's not illegal.

There are also laws against raiding the computers and data of journalists so what Apple have done is totally wrong in almost every respect. They're a despicable company and more people need to wake up and realise it.

So you're saying buying stolen goods for the purposes of journalism is OK now? If you lose an item, someone finds and then sells it on for profit, you have every right to complain to the police about it. It's a crime!

I'm almost speechless.. wtf is wrong with apple? You just know they put their legal team to research what far fetched law they could use to call the cops on these people for no damn reason.. It's the press, they might not always say something you like, and they might discover something you will like even less, but that's no excuse for this shit. Imagine if Apple was a government, this would be like how Nazi's scared the press.