{"id":542206,"date":"2010-04-23T16:43:15","date_gmt":"2010-04-23T20:43:15","guid":{"rendered":"tag:contentnext.com,2010-04-23:article\/419-california-police-open-investigation-into-the-lost-iphone-prototyp"},"modified":"2010-04-23T16:43:15","modified_gmt":"2010-04-23T20:43:15","slug":"california-police-open-investigation-into-the-lost-iphone-prototype","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/542206","title":{"rendered":"California Police Open Investigation Into The Lost iPhone Prototype"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"iPhone
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

An official police investigation has been opened to determine whether Gizmodo’s<\/em> purchase of what could be an iPhone prototype violated any criminal laws. <\/p>\n

CNet reports<\/a> that according to officials, Apple (NSDQ: AAPL<\/a>) has spoken to local police about the incident<\/a> and the investigation is believed to be headed by a computer crime task force led by the district attorney’s office in Santa Clara County, where Apple’s headquarters are located. <\/p>\n

While it’s possible the transaction violated laws, it is not clear whether the police are targeting Gizmodo<\/em>, or the source who reportedly found the iPhone in a bar and sold it for $5,000—or both. Gizmodo<\/em> returned the device to Apple after Apple acknowledged lost property was theirs.\n<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Nick Denton, publisher of Gizmodo<\/em>, was asked at paidContent.org’s State of the Gadget Media event<\/a> that given the potential legal ramifications would he do anything differently? His response was no, except one minor regret: He wished he had held back the identity of the Apple engineer, who lost the phone, for a few days and “milked the page views” even more.<\/p>\n

Gizmodo’s<\/em> publicity stunt did indeed juice page views. On the day the story was published, Gizmodo’s<\/em> unique visitors shot up to 2 million from an average of about 500,000 a day, Denton said at the event. <\/p>\n

The police investigation will try and determine whether there’s sufficient evidence to file criminal charges. Gizmodo<\/em> has claimed that it had no idea that device was stolen when they bought it. When Apple asked for the device back, they wrote: \u201cNow that we definitely know it\u2019s not some knockoff, and it really is Apple\u2019s, I\u2019m happy to see it returned to its rightful owner.\u201d <\/p>\n

Under California law, if a person finds lost property and knows who the owner is but keeps it for their own use, he or she is guilty of theft. If the value of the property exceeds $400, grand theft charges can be filed. Separately, if any person knowingly receives property that has been obtained illegally, he or she can be imprisoned for up to one year. However, in the case of Gizmodo<\/em>, they may be able to claim freedom of the press under the First Amendment, which says confidential information leaked to a news organization can be legally broadcast. It’s unclear if that changes if the material is purchased.\n<\/p>\n

Related<\/strong><\/p>\n