- DirtyPhonebook.com
- Steve Jobs vs. Gawker - email session
- I’m quitting

The home of Gizmodo editor Jason Chen was raided by police Friday night. They confiscated his computers as part of a widening investigation about the stolen iPhone recently.

If you don’t know, here’s what happened. An Apple developer working on the baseband for the forthcoming device took it off campus (whether he should have or not is still speculation, as is the status of his job after all of this). He left it in a bar in Redwood City. 

This is where the chaos begins. A rather drunken individual picks it up and asks around if it belongs to anyone. Someone nearby (still yet unnamed) picks it up saying that they think they saw the guy who owned it. Drunk guy leaves. The new owners of the phone hang onto it for a while and the proper owner never shows up. Rather than giving it to the bar manager, it gets taken home. Under California law if every reasonable effort is not made to return property to the rightful owner (i.e. giving it to the management of the establishment where it is found) it is considered stolen.

The next morning the new owner realizes that this iPhone is… different and pulls off the case to realize that it’s not an iPhone 3G S. Rather, it’s something new, but it won’t turn on. Apple remotely “bricked” the phone by way of MobileMe. It’s nice to know that MobileMe works for somebody out there.

Realizing that in his hands could very well be the next iPhone, our hero calls Gizmodo/Gawker and sells it for $5,000. Gizmodo shows us pics, pulls it apart, shows us more pics, speculates a little and then receives a letter from Apple’s legal department requesting it back. And there is goes. Most people complain to Gizmodo for ruining the surprise via illegal tactics. It’s all in poor taste. We pretend it never happened and wait for WWDC in June.

The police, however, have not forgotten. Yesterday, they show up at the home of Jason Chen, the editor at Gizmodo who had face time with the device and confiscated everything. It is reasonable to believe that the identity of the salesman is now identified (at least to the police) as well. 

Is this good press for Gizmodo? I don’t think a tech tabloid blog would want to be associated with stealing property from Apple, calling out the developer who lost it by name, showing us the guts of the phone, then telling Apple they are happy to return it and go easy on the employee with the butter fingers. 

But if they didn’t want it, how did this happen? It’s Apple. Their secrecy is unparalleled and they are known for it. Did you think they wouldn’t notice it missing? Did you think they wouldn’t recognize the pics on your homepage?

Well it’s not between Apple and Gizmodo anymore. It is in the hands of the police. If the opinions of several lawyers interviewed is any indication… Gizmodo will have a legal battle on their hands, and not a small one.

EDIT: Let me add that Gizmodo claims they didn’t know if it was real and opened it up only to verify. It was after it was pulled apart, that they knew for sure it truly belonged to Apple and made an attempt to return it. Also, the person who found it in the bar tried calling apple and was, basically, dismissed. If both of these are true, they still beg the question… a) why wasn’t the phone turned into the bar management instead of being brought home in the first place? Even if he didn’t know who owned it, he knew it wasn’t his. b) after Gizmodo pulled it apart and saw it was legit, why did they still post the pictures? To say they had the best intentions in mind is inaccurate. They had a scoop and now they are dealing with the consequences.