“Investigators said they have identified and interviewed the person who took the phone from the Gourmet Haus Staudt on March 18 after it was left there by Apple engineer Gray Powell following a birthday celebration,” Duan reports. “Officials were unable to tell the Business Journal whether that person, whose name has not been released, was the same person who eventually sold the phone to tech Web site Gizmodo.”
“So far, nobody has been charged with a crime,” Duan reports. “‘We’re still not saying it’s a crime,’ said San Mateo County Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe. ‘The investigation has contacted as many segments of the people involved in this situation, including the person who took the phone from the German restaurant. The police know who he is and they have talked to him.'”
Duan reports, “Wagstaffe said that an outside counsel for Apple, along with Apple engineer Powell, called the District Attorney’s office on Wednesday or Thursday of last week to report a theft had occurred and they wanted it investigated.”
Read more in the full article here.
Gizmodo your ass is grass
I like that it came at the request of Gray Powell. He’s certainly the wronged party.
Trading in stolen property is a crime.
Some slight evidence of the real Gray! I’d love to hear more.
As much as I love all things Apple — I really could not care less about any of this.
Worse– it’s starting to make Apple look bad.
Why? Because nobody cares. Because this is VICTIMLESS CRIME. Because it makes Apple look as bad as — yes, I’ll say it — the RIA going after college kids for sharing music.
Police have better things to do– yes, I’m sure even special cyber crime task forces have more serious things to investigate. And we as a society certainly have better things to think about.
Call off your dogs, Powell! You’re making Apple look like the RIAA.
Hey someone stole my phone that I lost because I was drunk. Charge them with a crime I say. I wondering if he had a DD that night or drove home drunk? Guess we will never if he supposedly “broke the law” also.
Fredo:
Bullshit, this is a green light to steal corporate IP, This hurts investors, the company and it’s employees and in the case of Apple, the second largest US company, that employs 35,000 people and makes good money for our economy.
You wouldn’t know how or what plans and strategies this hurt.
They get away with this kind of instigation and conspiracy and the next one could be a lot worse.
Just as I suspected, not done by Apple but by the individual who works for Apple.
Sadly some still won’t get it and will cry foul of the big ‘evil’ corporation sending the Gestapo kicking doors in.
How can a person steal something that is lost?
He found it, and what would have been the right thing to do was report the phone lost to the carrier/owner (i.e. looking at contact data, he could have found that info if not locked out through password protection/remote wipe).
But he sold it to Gizmodo. There then may be a crime in selling LOST property, I have no idea. But the person never stole it, neither did Gizmodo.
All this, all this media, it’s just so stupid. It’s what’s wrong with America. Who cares. Leave everyone alone. A guy lost a phone at a restaurant, and someone found it. It just so happens it’s a prototype of an Apple handset. Imagine if this were another companies phone? Would it garner this much publicity? No. Apple is turning into the evil… if indeed they initiated the probe.
Suck it up Apple, someone lost a phone, it happens. You shouldn’t let prototypes like this out in the wild if it’s too much of a risk.
@ Breeze
Give me a break, steal corporate IP? Really? How about lose corporate IP. And Second, Fredo is right if apple takes this to far it will make them look very bad. I mean no secrets were revealed that werent thought to be coming to the new iphone anyway. I like Apple as much as the next person, but take off your apple panties.
@Fredo
Police have better things to do
You said the same thing in another thread, an hour ago. Still comparing Apple to RIAA? Tsk tsk.
I’ll repeat the same thing I said to you in the other thread…
Yes but these aren’t typical police. This is a special task force that specializes in technological/computer crime, so it isn’t like these police are neglecting the crimes that concern you.
In fact, I’m inclined to believe these “police” are on the cutting edge of what will become one of the most significant task forces in the world. Cyber crime is wreaking havoc on all of us and it’s only a matter of time before someone coins the phrase The War on Cyber crime, or Cyber War.
The main reason why this task force has secured the backing of 25 notable companies, including Apple, is we’re talking about obscene sums of money and corporate espionage.
The money Microsoft loses each year to cyber criminals probably exceeds the entire budget for the state of California.
Marc:
Gizmodo took Apple on and in it’s zeal to penetrate Apple secrecy and expose it’s new products before the company itself, they published a challenging offer of cash for any Apple IP, secret info, or prototypes. They went even brazenly further in their initiation and instigation of Apple theft/piracy ( which was directed at Apple employees particularly) by publishing a “no questions asked”
This is a brazen invitation to steal Apple’s IP – it was bragged about and published counless times like a bounty offer. If you don’t see the connection maybe you have no intellectual anything let alone panties. How does a little mind like you know what secrets were or weren’t revealed and to who?
VICTIMLESS CRIME? what are you smoking?
@Marc
@ Breeze… …take off your apple panties
What are you hoping to find, you sick puppy?
@ Ahdsfl,
Problem is, leaving something somewhere doesn’t constitute “lost”, nor does finding something you think is lost mean it’s yours to keep.
Ever heard the term “finders keepers”? It’s grade school bullshit.
Returning the phone (or actually giving it to the bartender) wouldn’t have just been the right thing to do; it would have been the LEGAL thing to do.
Your perception of reality is totally skewed and you can’t even understand the basic facts of the story, yet you feel compelled to state your opinion of what Apple should do.
Amazing!
@breeze
I would reply, but my little mind cant find my intellectual panties.
@Fredo,
Victimless crime? Can you possibly be so clueless that you can’t see any victims in this case?
You brought up the RIAA, so let me guess… You download all your music for free, and don’t see any victims there, either right?
The ignorance on display here is unbelievable.
Marc:
Furthermore, howndo you know if gizmodo wasn’t so despeately in want of Apple IP that they actually were part of the dissapearing act?
How do you know if the phone wasn’t stolen behind powers back?
Don’t you think that if there was a complaint filed, there is a need to investigate the matter?
@G4Dualie
Didn’t say I was looking for anything. Sounds like you got excited about that saying, you trying to tell us something. Just go ahead and come on out, and tell us. I wont tell anyone.
Gizmodo is the one in the wrong here, they bought it for what $10,000, knowing what it is. Since when do you get to sell someone else property when you KNOW it’s not theirs to sell. They made bank off the hits on their site, and bought it for that purpose. To make a profit from Apples property. Apples images is imortant here, but justice to prevent something in the future is more important!
@ Ahdsfl,
Maybe you need to RTFA’s from last week on this. The guy that found it, saw Gray Powell’s facebook page. It wasn’t wiped until much later
@breeze
I dont know if it was stolen and neither do you. But it seems to be quite a few on here that keep saying it is including yourself. Everything that I have read has said the phone was lost, not stolen.
So since u claim it was stolen, I will ask you this How do know the phone wasn’t lost?
@ Marc and Fredo
thanks for playing.
“Out of sight out of mind” says the age old axiom. Who’s to say that the iPhone was still on the stool when Grey left. He really doesn’t know exactly when it left his presence. Could be his iPhone walked off while he was enjoying his Bavarian Brew and he just didn’t notice. He was celebrating his birthday after all.
I think Gizmodo should be held responsible for posting all the specs of the new product. That ain’t cool…