21-year-old Brian Hogan found an iPhone one night when he was in a bar with his friends. According to Hogan, he was in the bar with his friends when somebody handed him a phone after finding it on a nearby stool. The patron gave Hogan the phone, asked Hogan if the phone belonged to him, and then the patron left the bar. Hogan asked the people around him if the phone was theirs, but when no one claimed it, Hogan left the bar with the phone.
It turns out that the phone that Hogan left with was a prototype for a new version of the iPhone. Hogan claims that the phone immediately shut down and was un-useable for the duration of the time that it was in his possession. This being the case, Hogan thought of things that he could do with the phone.
The tech site Gizmodo offered to pay Hogan $5000 for the phone,in order to give the site exclusive access to review the phone. Gizmodo emphasized to him that there was nothing wrong in sharing the phone with the tech press. On April 19, 2010, Gizmodo published a bombshell story about the iPhone prototype.
Meanwhile, the man who lost the iPhone prototype and the Apple company contacted the San Mateo County District Attorney’s office to report the phone stolen. The investigation has led them to Hogan, but also to Gizmodo editor Jason Chen, who received and reported on the phone. Law enforcement officials raided Chen’s home and seized computers and other equipment. Gizmodo and others have argued that the search warrant violated state and federal laws protecting journalists from searches and seizures without a subpoena. The San Mateo County district attorney’s office said this week that investigators will not examine the seized materials until the legality of the warrant has been resolved. Hogan has been interviewed by law enforcement investigators but has not been charged with a crime. Hogan’s lawyer states that Hogan regrets his mistake in not doing more to return the phone.
But was it a mistake? There are many interesting issues raised by this case. First of all, are Hogan’s actions an example of “stealing”? Hogan had no way to return the phone to its owner since he had no way of knowing who the owner was. Perhaps Hogan could have done more by giving the phone to the bar owner so that it could be placed in the bar “lost and found”, but was that really Hogan’s responsibility under the law? Or is this “theft” considered more serious because of the nature of what was stolen or missing? For example, if someone in a bar finds a missing money clip, and no one in the bar claims it, is it a crime for the person to leave the bar with the money clip and not take further efforts to return it? It may be unethical but ethics are not what determine the law.
Second of all, it seems unreasonable that the GIzmodo editor had his house raided and his computers seized. What crime did Gizmodo commit? Is it illegal for a website or magazine to report on new technology once that technology is discovered? It is not as if Gizmodo was attempting to reproduce the iPhone. They were merely reporting about the new technology that had become available. Perhaps this is considered a more serious “crime” because it involves a huge company like Apple which has a lot of money at stake. Even if this is a serious matter to Apple (which makes sense), it seems peculiar to involve the police in raiding someone’s home and seizing their computers just because of someone’s questionable ethics.
Hogan’s lawyer states that Hogan’s family has relocated to an undisclosed location because “This thing has gotten completely, completely out of control”. It makes sense that finding top secret Apple technology is a big deal, but it may not be right for the law to bend simply because of the unique circumstances.
No comments:
Post a Comment