Cops Raid Gizmodo
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- JazX0
Time to call a lawyer.
- DoktorDavid0
Well, we aren't sure that Apple even called them in - some DA somewhere may have said, "Hey; opportunity". If I remember correctly DA's are elected in the US, right? If Apple had filed a complaint it would have to had to come before they sent their letter demanding the return of the item; that request was honored by Gizmodo. So, I'm thinking that Apple may be out of the mix (but cheering from the sidelines).
- time to start reading up and in general education yourself about how the world workspr2
- gabe0
fair enough, and i do mostly agree with you. what gizmodo did wasn't right and they should have handled the situation differently.
my contempt lies with a major corporation getting the luxury of such legal considerations, whereas someone like you or i, despite even having such proof, would be scoffed at by most (or at the very least casually blown off).
- DoktorDavid0
Gabe... thanks.
Gizmodo clearly had something that did not belong to them and they paid for it - sorry, that's theft in my opinion. Now, my opinion and $1.50 is a cup of coffee, so it really doesn't matter. Now the law is involved and it is completely out of the court of public opinion. What they did clearly wasn't right and now somebody is going to make a decision based on what the law says. Should prove to be interesting.
- repeat after me: the gov't is always right, the gov't is always right.......pr2
- gabe0
perhaps i'm getting ahead of myself in arguing my point. do i have the information correct? i thought the phone was lost, then found—which is different from being stolen. was it actually illegally and maliciously pick-pocketed from some well to do engineer? i suppose that's a different point, but still; if it's that important, what's it doing in a bar in the first place?
doktor, your scenario (which sucks btw, sorry) is an entirely different circumstance. it's not like a bunch of thieves penetrated (eww) apple's HQ and mission impossible'd off with an invaluable piece of technology. it's more like some drunk employee left his phone at a bar and now there's going to be hell to pay for it because it was important and it belonged to someone even more important.
maybe after all these years it's just that i still believe in finders keepers losers weepers, which i take comfort in being a perfect logical expectation for lost belongings. do i think it's right necessarily? no, but this is the world we live in. i should note: despite my contentment with losing things and knowing they'll likely be gone tomorrow (which is again different from being stolen), i would never keep anything i found if there were a chance i could return it to its rightful owner.
- i did keep a gi joe i found in a playground once when i younger, even though i knew...gabe
- who it belonged to. i still feel kinda guilty :(gabe
- It's okay, guilt is good. You can send it back you know... I won't tell. =]DoktorDavid
- ukit0
I'm not a legal expert but I'm imagining the crime is different. Selling a stolen prototype of one of the biggest smartphones in the world vs someone pick pocketing your own personal phone or your wallet and costing you a couple hundred bucks.
Now, if Steve Jobs left his personal phone and then called the swat team he would definitely deserve a good slap.
- DoktorDavid0
I hear you about things and the inherent madness there is to attachment, but your story doesn't exactly parallel the story at hand.
Here's another take... my wife and I had our town house broken into; stripped down to the walls. Ripped off by crack heads. How do I know? Saw a crack head, one I know by sight, walking down the street one day, wearing one of my t-shirts, high as a Georgia pine, as the saying goes.
Now it is possible that he got the shirt via other means, just like me buying back some of the CD's they stole at a local record store, where they had gone in to gather a few bucks. Could have called the cops, could have got them involved; but, for what? A t-shirt? Maybe 15-20 dollars?
So, I know I have had something stolen, see someone flaunting what they had taken and... then I made a decision not to act. Apple knows something has been "stolen", observes that someone is flaunting what they consider to be their's, even gets the item back. Then, the police get involved. Does that mean Apple called the cops in on it? Or did they draw their own conclusions and act? I'm not sure we will ever know.
You're right - who cares, who gives a shit? Well, the key here is somebody did, with the ability to act on that caring.
I hold no ill will to Gizmodo or to Apple. The courts will now decide who was right and who was wrong.
- gabe0
i think the point i'm passively making is that people lose shit all the time, but in the end who really gives a shit? can that guy not afford a new pair of $40 sandals? of course he can. is some geek having iPhone's inevitable 4g phone a few weeks early because he found it hurting apple's stock prices? of course not.
who really gives a shit?
an underlying subjective thought i have concerning both circumstances is that it just seems so typical of human nature to feel a sense of entitlement to THINGS. petty, easily replaceable possessions that no one will ever care about 6 months from now. it feels so very...selfish.
another thing about the whole ordeal (regarding apple) that bothers me is that apple is a CORPORATION, not a PERSON. if i had a dollar for every phone that i lost in a bar...i'd probably have $6. but, that's besides the point. i will tell you what i didn't get however: i didn't get an LAPD task force willing to break down the door of the conniving waitress who i'm certain swiped my razr off the table the minute i walked out the door.
maybe i'm just tired of big corporations with deep pockets and long reaches getting special consideration because of who they know or how much money they have to spend.
- gabe0
something similar happened when my fiance and i were on vacation in the dominican republic. we were on an ATV cruise with a group of other tourists (a handful american, a few europeans, a large group from germany, and lots of folks from spain and australia). there are about five or six stops along the way—the beach, a lagoon, mud trails—you get the idea. at each stop, there are tons of locals (both children and adults) trying to sell little knick-knacks, fruits, hand made jewelry, etc.
as you approach each stop, you park single file behind the ATV in front of you so that you create one long line with about 30 other ATVs. as we get ready to leave the second stop, a woman and a man appear to be having some words with our tour guide, although most of the other tourists aren't really paying much attention. not sure what's going on, i decide to see what the hold up us.
as i start to approach the beginning of the line, i notice that it's becoming something much more than a minor confrontation...there's a furious couple screaming bloody murder at our tour guide (who from the beginning—despite his terribly broken english—i thought seemed like a pretty nice fellow).
the woman is an american, maybe 5'5", about 250lbs; her husband was very similarly proportioned. the woman and husband are screaming fuck this and fuck that, and fuck you, and things like "we're americans!#$ you should be so lucky we come here@#% we're the reason you have an economy...we're going to get you fired, we're going to tell everyone about fucking horrible this ATV trip is!"
it was at this point, after about 2 minutes of listening to this vile woman completely belittle and berate our tour guide—and feeling oddly guilty for being an american—that i decided to intervene. frustrated and curious, i ask what the group what the problem is. the couple turns to me and shouts—as if seeking my approval to justify their anger—"someone stole our sandals. our FUCKING sandals! can you believe it? they were nikes! they were $40!"
the story continues, but suffice it to say that i had many very, very angry words with this couple, which led to the end of the altercation altogether. we continued our ATV tour—only to be completely covered in mud 5 minutes later, grinning from ear to ear.
i guess the point of my story is this: it's a big, bad, often unforgiving world. if you forgetfully leave something that is easily stolen—especially in a second world country—don't expect it to be there when you come back. if you do make this mistake and someone does take what you so carelessly left behind, please don't go crying to the police about something so petty as your precious little sandals.
some poor little kid may have gotten the best pair of shoes he'll ever own. maybe he'll even sell them...but in the end, who really gives a shit about the fucking sandals?
- Sorry - don't get your point here.DoktorDavid
- Meaning: I don't see the parallel...DoktorDavid
- meaning. if you leave shit lying about, it's gunna get stolen. then dont go crying when it does.Stugoo
- So it get stolen and then gets used without your permission and then that use...DoktorDavid
- ...allows you to bust the person who stole it don't call the police? Huh?DoktorDavid
- spraycan0
- who is this fucking idiot?spraycan
- Um... someone with an opinion? On Apple's payroll? Who cares...DoktorDavid
- when apple fanboy becomes a full time jobspraycan
- DoktorDavid0
lolz - what did people expect? Gizmodo was showing off ffs... of course someone is going to be offended and drop a dime on them. Dumb asses could have easily set up a dummy/blind website, did their thing and then Fedex the device back to Apple... oops; that might have been too easy.
- akrokdesign0
1. an stolen item from a company. (apple)
2. the stolen item and a possible thief showed his face, name.
3. the police enforcing the law. nothing else.- try the same when you shit gets stolen, lets see how well that goes. besides the property was NOT stolen.pr2
- won't go as well cause the thief won't post him self online.akrokdesign
- inteliboy0
The amount of nonsense people go on about when it comes to Apple and Steve Jobs is insane. If this was any other company, for one, no one would be going on about the CEO's part in all of this, and secondly, well, no one would really give a shit in the first place...
Besides, you'd get police knocking at your door if you stole anything of value from a standard desk-job office. Let alone a fuck up like this with a giant like Apple.
- ETM0
This represents everything wrong with society. Could the cops have been doing something more important that raiding a nerds house. And for what? What did they think they would recover... more photos or write ups that had not been released? Damage was done. Sounds like a fishing expedition. No Stevy boy knew the right people in high places and wanted some revenge done on this guy. And this guy was just the face for Gizmodo, its not like he dished out the 5 or 10k himself, so why is his property being seized but nothing at Gawker?
Besides, any publicity is good publicity and its not like it was some early prototype revealed. I am sure Chinese children in factory cities are already pumping these things out.
- maybe, like giving parking ticket. as the city needs the money.akrokdesign
- ukit0
LOL
- vaxorcist0
Someday Steve's gonna lose at something like this and boy is it gonna hurt....
- Centigrade0
Can someone do a hitler parody of this thing please. I need a giggle.
- raf0
You come up with concepts what is just and what isn't and stories about corporate bullying while it's California law that says if you found something, you are obliged to return it.
In other countries/states maybe you own what you found, not in CA. Period.
- sigg0
i'm with apple
^someone put that on a shirt and i'll buy it