If you missed my main opinion post on Apple's expression of corporatist power by not shutting down a criminal investigation into how one of it's iPhone prototypes ended up profiled on Gizmodo and you also missed my post on tech.thepete.com about how Newsweek thinks Apple's got a big-bully PR mess on its hands AND you missed the EFFYOU I gave Apple through my new site EFFYOU.org, here's the deal in a nutshell:
Apple needs to chill--no money was lost, people will still buy Apple products, the sky is not falling! Don't go after this poor kid who made a lousy 5 grand off of finding the iPhone and don't punish Gizmodo for trying to get a scoop--you have your prototype back, time to move the hell on.
That said, here is another reason to back off the kid who "sold" the iPhone proto to Gizmodo--apparently the kid is a damn good person:
His attorney says he recently transferred schools and will resume his college education in the fall. He has been working part time at a church-run community center giving swimming lessons to children and volunteered at a Chinese orphanage last year while he was enrolled in a study-abroad program.“He also volunteers to assist his aunt and sister with fundraising for their work to provide medical care to orphans in Kenya,” his attorney says. “Brian is the kind of young man that any parent would be proud to have as their son.”
That was via wired.com.
Also from wired.com in the same piece:
“He regrets his mistake in not doing more to return the phone,” says Bornstein’s statement. “Even though he did obtain some compensation from Gizmodo, Brian thought that it was so that they could review the phone.”Shortly after Gizmodo published its story, people identifying themselves as representatives of Apple appeared at Hogan’s home seeking permission to search the premises, according to a source involved with the iPhone find. A roommate turned them away.
Nice attempted corporate power there, huh? Yeah, Apple, just because you guys are huge doesn't give you the power to march into people's homes. Even knocking on the kid's door is wrong. What do you think the cops are for?
Now, did the kid fail to do due diligence and just turn the phone into the bartender? No. Should he have? Yes. He definitely broke the law. But we need to ask ourselves if the law was designed to prevent this kind of incident and we need to ask ourselves if there is even a victim here. If there isn't a real victim, if no real harm was done, what's the big deal?
This kid is a 21 year-old SAINT for crying out loud--he made a mistake, LET IT GO.
OH yeah and it seems like I'm not the only person to feel this way. Here's a clip from Daily Show that aired April 28, 2010:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Appholes | ||||
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Christ, we let Bush get away with MUCH worse than "stealing" a phone--what a waste to get so hyper about this when there are several probable war criminals walking the streets of America. Well, riding in the limousines of America, I guess.
THANK GOD APPLE'S RIGHTS ARE PROTECTED THOUGH!!
sigh...
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