

Lost iPhone prototype spurs police probe - anderzole
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20003308-37.html

======
neonfunk
In terms of appearances, the DA pursuing criminal charges is the best possible
outcome for Apple. They get the satisfaction of seeing Giz and/or the "thief"
scrutinized for their actions without risking the fallout of aggressively
pursuing them with a civil suit.

Substantively, I admit not understanding the legal intricacies.

~~~
anigbrowl
There was a longish discussion about this yesterday at
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1284949> if you're interested. I'm not a
lawyer but I think what Gizmodo did violates the Uniform Trade Secrets Act
(which California has adopted). I think it violates the economic espionage act
too, but grellas has already discussed that.

Edit: bizarrely, Gizmodo mailed me earlier ( _after_ the CNet report had
appeared) to clue me in on how Apple disguises their prototypes. It seems not
to have occurred to them that this, if anything, emphasizes the idea of the
phone being a trade secret.

I wonder if they think only the guy who sold them the phone is at risk of
prosecution, and that the California Shield Law (which offers reporters a
defense against contempt of court charges for refusing to reveal a source)
gives them all the legal cover they need. Seeing as how their COO and legal
adviser is not a US lawyer (<http://gabydarby.blogspot.com/>), they may be in
for a surprise.

 _How Apple Conceals Prototype iPhones

There's a reason why more people haven't seen the next iPhones before Steve
Jobs makes an announcement: They're in disguise.

This iPhone, which looks drastically different from the 3GS, was enclosed in a
custom-molded plastic case so it could be used in public without attracting
attention. In regular use, you would think that this was just a standard
iPhone with the writing scratched off the back. Very clever.

The plastic case, which comes apart easily, looks just like a 3GS. When you
pry the case apart, three bits—the power button, the mute switch and the
volume rocker—quickly shed off. It's weird that these bits are made of
plastic, when the corresponding parts on the 3GS are made of aluminum/metal.

To reassemble the case, all you have to do is make sure the little plastic
bits are in the right place before popping the front back on. A very ingenious
solution to protect future designs from lookeyloos. One of the best bits is
that the case looks like a case FOR an older iPhone. iPhone cases are seen so
often, that even if this one looks weird and doesn't match up to the 3GS body,
it can be easily dismissed as just being a lousy case._

~~~
jrockway
_Seeing as how their COO and legal adviser is not a US lawyer
(<http://gabydarby.blogspot.com/>), they may be in for a surprise._

Usually people with a "C" in their title don't actually do the work for the
departments they manage. The CTO of my company is not a Haskell programmer,
but we have working Haskell production applications.

------
jrockway
Why is this a "computer crime"? What details would be different if this was a
used box of condoms instead of an iPhone prototype?

~~~
sophacles
Were they prototype condoms that are not publicly available? If so not much
other than the condoms don't hold electronic data (assuming they aren't super
revolutionary).

So things that could be illegal here:

1\. The product may have been taken without permission off apple property.

2\. The device could have sensitive "trade secret" data on it. The person who
lost the device is certainly under NDA, therefore the information on the
device did not lose this status.

3\. The device being a prototype may actually constitute trade secret worthy
status.

In both 2 and 3 paying for the device could constitute industrial espionage
for commercial purposes, depending on the circumstances.

4\. Just because the person who sold it to Gizmodo claims to have found it in
a bar does not mean he did not steal it himself, with or without collusion
from the apple guy.

There are many more potential crimes in this scenario.

As for what warrants it being investigated by the computer crimes folks: it is
a high tech device and most of the players involved are high tech folks. It
stands to reason they may have texted, emailed, twittered etc in the course of
making the deal(s). The computer crimes folks are most likely to be able to
trace that stuff down.

~~~
jrockway
_It stands to reason they may have texted, emailed, twittered etc in the
course of making the deal(s)._

Wouldn't this be true of any crime?

~~~
anigbrowl
It could be, but with a blog it's a virtual certainty. Gizmodo doesn't publish
their office phone number, for one thing.

~~~
jrockway
Interesting.

Next week on HN, jrockway explains why Gizmodo should have used PGP :)

------
CWuestefeld
Sheesh. What is it with all these stories? You'd think that leaking
information about a new iPhone was the most important thing to happen this
week.

It's not.

~~~
GHFigs
Commenting on stories you're not interested in is a waste of your own time.

~~~
jrockway
Reading comments about how writing comments is a waste of time is a waste of
time. Writing comments about reading comments about how writing comments is a
waste of time.

And now you have to read a comment about writing a comment about reading a
comment about writing a comment about reading a comment. I think.

