No Charges for Bloggers Who Published Details of iPhone 4 Prototype

[Hissyspit]

Source: AFP

No charges for bloggers who published details of iPhone 4 prototype

By Agence France-Presse
Thursday, August 11th, 2011 -- 7:42 pm

SAN FRANCISCO — Prosecutors on Apple's home turf have decided not to pursue criminal charges against Gizmodo technology bloggers who got hold of a lost iPhone 4 prototype.

A man who purportedly found the gadget in a bar and another who brokered a deal to sell it to Gizmodo will face charges, according to a release online Thursday from the district attorney's office in San Mateo County, California.

Early last year, Gizmodo published pictures and details of the iPhone prototype after buying it for 5,000 dollars from Brian Hogan, who claimed to have found it in a beer garden where it was lost by an Apple software engineer.

Hogan, 22, was charged with misappropriation of lost property while 28-year-old Sage Wallower faces that charge plus one accusing him of possession of stolen property, according to prosecutors.


Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/08/11/no-charges-for-bloggers-who-found-iphone-4-prototype

[onehandle]

1. It’s not that there wasn’t a case against Gizmodo for buying stolen property. The DA just decided...

...to not pursue it.

They were clearly dealing in stolen property and they should thank their lucky stars.

But they are banned from Apple events, so there is that.

[harmonicon]

2. stolen?

I think this entire thing stinks. I understand that it may not be ethically sound to sell a phone you find at a bar, but I imagine that it happens all of the time. People lose cell phones, and a lot of the time they don't get them back. Do you think anyone else has been charged before for selling a phone they found at a bar, in a cab, etc.? I somehow doubt it.

[onehandle]

3. That would make sense...

...if the original thief did not know exactly what he had, who actually owned it, had not approached just the right people, who also knew exactly what he had, and how he got it.

[harmonicon]

4. I do see your point, but it would have been speculation, I imagine.

I suppose all of this will come out in court, unless there's a plea for a lesser offense.