Jobs' Burglary Manhunt Yields Kenny the Clown

theodp writes "Even in death, Steve Jobs managed to get specialists from the Apple-friendly Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team (REACT) to team up again with Apple investigators and local police to track down the whereabouts of a stolen Apple device. Unlike a 2010 stolen iPhone prototype incident, which ended with a raid on a Gizmodo editor's home, this new investigation into the $60K burglary of the late Apple CEO's under-renovation Palo Alto home ended with the recapture of an iPad from Kenny the Clown, who accepted the device as payment of a debt owed to him by burglary suspect Kariem McFarlin. PCWorld has the details of how Palo Alto Police, REACT, and Apple investigators connected the dots to track down Jobs' stolen iPads, which may trouble some privacy advocates."

Re:Worried about privacy

[Registered Coward v2]

Finding only secured Wi-Fi signals, investigators could argue it was being used by the person paying the bill or those with permission.

Gee Mr. Persecutor, I know the router is locked down now, but it was insecure before my brother-in-law pointed it out to me.

That's probably an argument you'd make to a judge to invalidate the search; though I think you'd have a hard time arguing they didn't have probable cause for a search since the router was secured when they checked. That would provide, IMH-nonlawyerO, reasonable justification for a warrant.

Re:burglar robs lots of homes, police catch him

[UnknowingFool]

I suppose the reason REACT was involved is the same reason it was was involved last time: Trade secrets. Last time a prototype was the trade secret. This time the computers might have held trade secrets. If you lived in the area and REACT failed to respond to your trade secret case, please let the world know about it.

Taxes too low on rich

[AK Marc]

People whine about progressive taxation, but compare a lost iPhone from Apple with a phone stolen in a "regular" robbery. The poor person gets to give a statement, and if the right serial numbers are turned into the police, he may get a phone call 10 years later, after a trial in which the device was evidence. But Apple makes a phone call, and millions of dollars are spent tracking it.

The rich get special treatment. The rich get protection perks the rest of us don't. Then the rich complain that a poor person in a high-crime area with no police patrols doesn't pay enough taxes, but the rich person in a low-crime area has constant patrols.

The issue here isn't the privacy concerns of your iDevice, but that you are raped by taxes for programs that mainly benefit the rich, while being told that the rich get nothing from the programs because they opt out with private security (though I didn't see any mention of the Apple private security doing the recovery work, that was all government).