Stick ‘Em Up’ – Steve Jobs Questioned in Apple iPhone 4 Scandal
Its all been very quiet the past few months regarding the police invesitgation into the saga concerning the disappearance of the ‘lost’ iPhone prototype 4 that Gizmodo netted but now it seems, according to a CNET report that police are close to wrapping it up.
Stephen Wagstaffe, chief deputy district attorney for San Mateo County, Calif., told CNET today that police are close to wrapping up their theft investigation and could forward their final report to his office within the next few weeks. Wagstaffe will then review the information and determine whether to file criminal charges.
As part of the investigation, police interviewed a "number of Apple employees" and other people connected to the case, including Apple CEO Steve Jobs, Wagstaffe said. An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment – not surprisingly.
Information about Apple products rarely leak and it’s rarer still that the public gets a look at one of the company’s prototypes. A story about the prototype and the events that followed stirred huge interest among Apple fans.
In March 2010, an Apple employee lost contact with a prototype of the next-generation iPhone during a visit to a bar in Redwood City, Calif. A 21-year-old student, Brian Hogan, obtained the phone and later sold the handset to the tech blog Gizmodo. After Gizmodo published photos and a story on the experimental phone, Apple requested it be returned. The company later contacted the police.
Police launched a theft investigation and served a subpoena at the Fremont, Calif., home of Jason Chen, one of Gizmodo’s editors. Since then, Chen and Gawker Media, Gizmodo’s parent company, voluntarily agreed to turn over information related to the acquisition of the phone. Wagstaffe said his office has received all of that material.
Ever since police began investigating, Gizmodo has maintained that reporters there did nothing illegal by purchasing the phone. Hogan’s attorney, Jeff Bornstein, concedes his client erred in judgment but argues his client never committed any crime. Under a California law dating back to 1872, any person who finds lost property and knows who the owner is likely to be–but "appropriates such property to his own use"–is guilty of theft. In addition, a second state law says any person who knowingly receives property that has been obtained illegally can be imprisoned for up to one year.
Gizmodo has claimed that its employees did nothing wrong, at least partially claiming protection under journalist shield laws. Others, however, have pointed to California laws regarding requirements for the handling of lost property as potential cause for charges to be filed against one or more of the parties involved.
Joanne Carter
Joanne Carter, creator of the world’s most popular mobile photography and art website— TheAppWhisperer.com— TheAppWhisperer platform has been a pivotal cyberspace for mobile artists of all abilities to learn about, to explore, to celebrate and to share mobile artworks. Joanne’s compassion, inclusivity, and humility are hallmarks in all that she does, and is particularly evident in the platform she has built. In her words, “We all have the potential to remove ourselves from the centre of any circle and to expand a sphere of compassion outward; to include everyone interested in mobile art, ensuring every artist is within reach”, she has said. Promotion of mobile artists and the art form as a primary medium in today’s art world, has become her life’s focus. She has presented lectures bolstering mobile artists and their art from as far away as the Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea to closer to her home in the UK at Focus on Imaging. Her experience as a jurist for mobile art competitions includes: Portugal, Canada, US, S Korea, UK and Italy. And her travels pioneering the breadth of mobile art includes key events in: Frankfurt, Naples, Amalfi Coast, Paris, Brazil, London. Pioneering the world’s first mobile art online gallery - TheAppWhispererPrintSales.com has extended her reach even further, shipping from London, UK to clients in the US, Europe and The Far East to a global group of collectors looking for exclusive art to hang in their homes and offices. The online gallery specialises in prints for discerning collectors of unique, previously unseen signed limited edition art. Her journey towards becoming The App Whisperer, includes (but is not limited to) working for a paparazzi photo agency for several years and as a deputy editor for a photo print magazine. Her own freelance photographic journalistic work is also widely acclaimed. She has been published extensively both within the UK and the US in national and international titles. These include The Times, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, Popular Photography & Imaging, dpreview, NikonPro, Which? and more recently with the BBC as a Contributor, Columnist at Vogue Italia and Contributing Editor at LensCulture. Her professional photography has also been widely exhibited throughout Europe, including Italy, Portugal and the UK. She is currently writing several books, all related to mobile art and is always open to requests for new commissions for either writing or photography projects or a combination of both. Please contact her at: [email protected]
