iPhone 4 Prototype Finder Gets Probation 334
think_nix writes "Brian Hogan, who found an iPhone 4 prototype last year which was sold to Gizmodo for $5,000, has been sentenced to one year of probation, 40 hours of community service, and a $250 fine. The District Attorney's office was asking for jailtime."
Here let me fix that for you. (Score:5, Insightful)
If you find a cell phone that doesn't belong to you in a bar and you turn it in to the bar owner, or you turn it into the police, or you turn it into a carrier store that the phone came from you are a finder.
If you find cell phone that doesn't belong to you and you sell it you are a thief.
Re:Finders keepers, losers weepers. (Score:2, Insightful)
I think that if you look it up, you will find that F. Keepers v. L. Weepers is not, in fact, a Supreme Court case, and the law in the real world is slightly more sophisticated on this matter than a handful of ten year old children would have you believe.
Will anyone at Gizmodo be charged? (Score:5, Insightful)
For buying and destroying goods that were obviously not the property of the person selling them?
Here's the lesson (Score:2, Insightful)
If you spot a lost cell phone, ignore it. Don't touch it, don't look at it, don't ponder it, and above all, don't be the one who calls attention to it. Just keep moving. In today's environment of runaway government, chances are high you will be punished for trying to do right, rather than rewarded as one should be.
I'm not just talking about lost cell phones, of course. Unless it is a life-or-death situation, or somebody is likely to get hurt, the smart policy is to stay the hell out of any situation that is likely to involve government.
Remember that (1) the police are in the business of convicting people, not praising altruism, and (2) we live in the country with the highest incarceration rate in the entire world. Clearly, the US government's objective with the legal system is not justice -- and therefore it is prudent to regard the workhorses of that legal system (the police) as liabilities, not assets.
A man walks into a bar (Score:4, Insightful)
On leaving the bartender notices that he has left his iPhone on the table.
Bartender: "Charlie, you left your iPhone again."
Customer: "sorry Phil, but it's cheaper than buying commercials."
Bartender: "Maybe, but my customers customers keep ending up in jail."
Re:not a felony (Score:4, Insightful)
Leaving something in a location does not mean it's no longer your property. Even if he did trust it to the hands of a "tech junky", it's still Apple's property. By selling the device, the "finder" illegally converted the phone to HIS sole possession and control. Why? Because you can't sell something that's not yours, so obviously he took the phone to be his own property.
When you maintain control over something that is not your property and you make it your property with no intent to return it to the owner, that is a crime, and it's called "conversion". It's like embezzlement, but without money - you've been trusted with something and you misappropriated it. The fact that he then SOLD the goods that were unlawfully converted constitutes a second crime, the sale of stolen property.
Nice attempt at spinning it into a harmless "finders-keepers" bit, but you failed miserably. Don't believe me? Ask a lawyer.
Re:Here's the lesson (Score:4, Insightful)
If you spot a lost cell phone, ignore it. Don't touch it, don't look at it, don't ponder it, and above all, don't be the one who calls attention to it. Just keep moving. In today's environment of runaway government, chances are high you will be punished for trying to do right, rather than rewarded as one should be.
Holy tinfoil hat... Michelle Bachmann, is that you? This case is not even remotely about someone trying to do the "right thing", by any stretch of the imagination. A guy found some lost property and immediately tried to sell it, which in almost every sane, law abiding nation, is a CRIME. He got punished. I think the protest down at the Crymeafuckin river is missing you sorely, why don't you get back to it?
Re:Justice is served (Score:4, Insightful)
What ever happened to finders keepers?
Do you apply kindergarten playground law to all of your moral dilemmas? Shoving people when they're mean to you, crying when you don't get your way? In adult land, we try to hold ourselves to a higher standard than 6 year olds.
Re:Justice is served (Score:3, Insightful)