Gizmodo's Jason Chen Has His Home Raided By Police
The next chapter of the drama surrounding Apple's 4G iPhone unfolded last night, when California's Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team raided the home of Jason Chen, Gizmodo's editor-in-chief.
According to a posting on Gizmodo earlier today, Chen and his wife returned home after an evening out to discover that a large number of police officers and detectives had decended on their home. It was explained to Chen that a search warrant had been issued for his home and any vehicles that may have been parked on the property.
Before leaving Chen's property, law enforcement officals removed a total of four computers and two servers, taking them into police custody as evidence. In a release posted on Gizmodo, Chen states that the police working the warrant issued him and his wife with a catalogue of all of their possessions taken into custody, and suggested he file a reimbursment claim with the police department for damages done to his home when the police entered the premises.
For those unfamiliar with the events leading up to last night's raid on Chen's home, Gizmodo has posted a comprehensive list. If you're an Apple enthusiast, or have even a passing interest in media law, it's worth a read.
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jiubreyn
April 27, 2010 at 2:56am
Direct quote from the following website: http://www.citmedialaw.org/blog/2010/lost-and-found-california-law-and-next-generation-iphone [California law regulates what you can do when you find lost property in the state. Section 2080 of the Civil Code provides that any person who finds and takes charge of a lost item acts as "a depositary for the owner." If the true owner is known, the finder must notify him/her/it within a reasonable time and "make restitution without compensation, except a reasonable charge for saving and taking care of the property." Id. § 2080. If the true owner is not known and the item is worth more than $100, then the finder has a duty to turn it over to the local police department within a reasonable time. Id. § 2080.1. The owner then has 90 days to claim the property. Id. § 2080.2. If the true owner fails to do so and the property is worth more than $250, then the police publish a notice, and 7 days after that ownership of the property vests in the person who found it, with certain exceptions. Id. § 2080.3.]
SpaceTrucker
April 26, 2010 at 6:38pm
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that the device should NOT be returned to Apple, in fact it should have ALREADY been give back to Apple shortly after the story broke, if not before. What this will do to the device actually being put out is anyones guess at this point. I wouldn't want to be the blame for it never getting a release or even a major delay in it's release since they would have to go back to the drawing board on that prototype device to reproduce it. Whereas that prototype could have been possibly up for release in the next month or two, had it not been lost to begin with.
SpaceTrucker
April 26, 2010 at 6:32pm
Last I heard there was thing called, "Finders, Keepers", where if someone loses something, the person who found it has not done anything wrong and can claim it as theirs. Therefore an ultimate sale of said item to someone else is of course legal. From the whole story that was printed thus far, the item in question was not STOLEN but LOST, and someone else FOUND IT. It's NOT their responsibility to return said item to anyone, they can keep it as theirs. Though it may not be "moral" or "the right thing to do", it is however very legal. Just as if you had lost your wallet and I ultimately found and sold the wallet to someone else, with all it's contents still inside. Now assuming that this device was used by simply putting a SIM Card in that was owned by the new owner, then there is nothing illegal being committed, except for the illegal search and seizure of the computers and other electronic devices of the guy whom worked for the media. Since it was obvious that the item in question was a cell phone, not a computer or other electronics. Stupid Captcha...
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