“Jason Chen did not “find himself in possession” of a prototype iPhone. Jason Chen and Gizmodo bought a prototype iPhone from someone whom they knew had stolen it.”
I really love Gizmodo, but I seemed to be the only tech geek I knew who was really troubled by the whole iPhone 4G teardown/photo shoot… it’s nice to know Gruber feels the same way.
That’s not to say the police should have busted in Chen’s door, or that it was at all a smart move on Apple’s part from a PR standpoint, but really… there’s been a lot of “slippery slope” talk. The issues isn’t, “should Chen get the same protection as any other journalist” (he should), but “should journalists who’ve openly admitted to themselves committing (not just reporting on) a prosecutable larceny, be immune to normal criminal investigative proceedings just because they wrote an article about the end results?”
I think it’d be one thing if Gizmodo bought photos of the new iPhone from an informant, even knowing the phone had been stolen/”found” — but it’s another story when they actually buy the stolen goods themselves with the corporate checkbook.
And for anyone arguing it wasn’t *really* stealing, as Gruber says, CA law seems pretty clear on it, legally. And ethically… If I left my phone (top-secret prototype or otherwise) at a bar, and some dude picked it up off the stool, walked out of the bar, halfheartedly called my corporate office the next day after the device was remotely wiped, and then sold it to the highest bidder (rather than handing it to the bartender and saying, “Someone left this here, he’ll probably be back for it”) I’d certainly be rather upset, wouldn’t you?
Apple’s still very silly for pursuing this rather than just letting it drop… but really, I have surprisingly little sympathy for Gizmodo on this one, legally or morally.
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ysamlan posted this
