Posted by Kromey at 3:52pm Sep 6 '11The short version:
Apple loses a prototype of their upcoming iPhone 5 (haven't we been here before?). Apple investigators somehow "trace" it to a man's home in San Francisco. Apple investigators then recruit (off-duty?) SFPD officers to act as their muscle when they confront the man, and they then search the man's house and even his hard drive (apparently looking for signs he'd connected it to his computer).
SFPD initially denies any involvement, then later acknowledge that they "assisted" Apple investigators to the man's house -- but insist they did not search his home. All this came as a surprise to the home owner, who thought that all six of the men who showed up on his doorstep and announced they were from the SFPD were police offices (but he does acknowledge that only 2 actually entered his home and searched it -- and threatened he and his family).
All of this is pretty frightening, and disgusting, and reads like a dystopian novel where corporations make the laws and the cops serve them, not the people. Meanwhile, though, Apple's image of being the "good guys" going up against the Evil Empire (Microsoft) is somehow perfectly intact, despite the fact that Apple's corporate antics have been far more on the "evil" side of things than Microsoft's, especially in the last several years. Violet Blue (author of the article linked below with a lot more detail about the situation) may be more concerned about the activities of the SFPD, but frankly I'm pretty disgusted with Apple's behavior, too, that they think this is acceptable.
Apple loses a prototype of their upcoming iPhone 5 (haven't we been here before?). Apple investigators somehow "trace" it to a man's home in San Francisco. Apple investigators then recruit (off-duty?) SFPD officers to act as their muscle when they confront the man, and they then search the man's house and even his hard drive (apparently looking for signs he'd connected it to his computer).
SFPD initially denies any involvement, then later acknowledge that they "assisted" Apple investigators to the man's house -- but insist they did not search his home. All this came as a surprise to the home owner, who thought that all six of the men who showed up on his doorstep and announced they were from the SFPD were police offices (but he does acknowledge that only 2 actually entered his home and searched it -- and threatened he and his family).
All of this is pretty frightening, and disgusting, and reads like a dystopian novel where corporations make the laws and the cops serve them, not the people. Meanwhile, though, Apple's image of being the "good guys" going up against the Evil Empire (Microsoft) is somehow perfectly intact, despite the fact that Apple's corporate antics have been far more on the "evil" side of things than Microsoft's, especially in the last several years. Violet Blue (author of the article linked below with a lot more detail about the situation) may be more concerned about the activities of the SFPD, but frankly I'm pretty disgusted with Apple's behavior, too, that they think this is acceptable.
SFPD "assist" Apple in searching a man's home - Kromey