2010-05-01 11:44:24

Police search reporter’s home in Apple probe

1. Police search reporter’s home in Apple probe

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Written by Angelo Ratini Collegian Editor

Police entered Jason Chen’s home April 23 in order to search and seize any evidence in an on-going investigation into the alleged ‘theft’ of the Apple’s new iPhone 4G prototype.  Upon entering the house, they seized two laptops, a 500GB external harddrive, multiple flash drives and two servers.

Chen is a reporter for the blog-based technology news site, Gizmodo. On April 18th, it was reported that the iPhone prototype was left in a bar in San Jose. Here an undisclosed man picked up the iPhone and sold it to Gizmodo at the cost of $5,000.

Both Gawker Media group, the parent organization of Gizmodo and other tech-related blogs and Gizmodo itself are outraged. They feel that the way they obtained the device was fully legitimate and legal.
Gawker Media group released a statement on April 26th stating:

“Last Friday night, California’s Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team entered editor Jason Chen’s home without him present, seizing four computers and two servers. They did so using a warrant by Judge of Superior Court of San Mateo. According to the COO of Gawker Media LLC, Gaby Darbyshire, the search warrant to remove these computers was invalid under section 1524(g) of the California Penal Code.”

Currently, prosecutors are defending the actions of police saying the seizure was legal and warranted as part of the investigation into the iPhone theft.

Gizmodo, having done many reviews of Apple products in the past, contacted Apple and told them that they would perform a review/preview of the device and return it to them. According to Gizmodo, it has since been returned to them before the search.

At first there was speculation that this device was a hoax, but after performing an in-depth analysis of the device, it was concluded by multiple sources that it is a legitimate 4th generation iPhone.  
Because of this controversy, many tech news agencies are up in arms, such as CNET and Ars Technica amongst others.

Apple contacted local authorities and said it  obtained a search warrant as an ‘investigation into a felony crime.’ Because of the shady acquisition of the device, the local authorities are treating the case as theft.
This search is seeing a great amount of controversy. The reason for this controversy is that due to Jason’s status as a reporter, the seizure of assets pertinent to a news-story is against the freedom of the press act.
In an interview with the tech-news website CNET, executive director of the reporters committee for Freedom of the Press  Lucy Dalglish said “This is such an incredibly clear violation of state and federal law it takes my breath away. The only thing left for the authorities to do is return everything immediately and issue one of hell of an apology.”

On top of this controversy, there were also reports that Apple might have used its legal clout and funding to push through the acquisitions. There are documents pointing to this.  However, as of this article they are unsubstantiated.  

There is also currently a discrepancy whether or not the investigation is directly targeting Gizmodo or the party that originally found the device in the bar.

This is not the first time that Apple has been involved with actions that have had questionable legality.  In December of 2009, Apple came under fire after receiving allegations that they were forcefully holding captive and interrogating employees that they were suspecting of leaking information. This lawsuit is still in litigation as well.