Police Know Who Found Apple's New iPhone

(April 29) -- Police have identified the person who found a prototype of Apple's new iPhone in a Silicon Valley restaurant March 18.

Last week, the technology site Gizmodo set off a firestorm of controversy when it published photographs of the next-generation iPhone, which wasn't set to become public until later this year. The site says it bought the phone for $5,000 from a third party. A criminal investigation has been launched into whether Gizmodo obtained the phone illegally.

Police have not released the name of the person who found the iPhone left by an Apple engineer last month, the San Jose Business Journal reported. It's also not clear whether it's the same individual who sold the device to Gizmodo editor Jason Chen, who wrote the story about the phone.

Engadget.com

Police said they know who found this prototype of a next-generation iPhone at a restaurant on March 18, but they haven't released the person's identity.

"We're still not saying it's a crime," San Mateo County Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe told the Journal. "The investigation has contacted as many segments of the people involved in this situation, including the person who took the phone from the German restaurant. The police know who he is, and they have talked to him."

Last week, Gizmodo returned the iPhone prototype at Apple's request. On Friday, though, police from a high-tech crime task force in Southern California dubbed REACT obtained a warrant and searched Chen's home and seized four of his computers. Apple is on the steering committee of REACT, or the Rapid Enforcement and Allied Computer Team, according to the Journal.

Wagstaffe said the investigation is on hold until it is clear whether Chen is covered under California's Shield Laws, which protect journalists from having to reveal their sources.

Bloggers can't decide whether Gizmodo has done something illegal, either. They're divided over whether paying for the stolen phone was a breach of ethics or a brilliant scoop by a tech blogger whose journalistic sources should be protected.

"Journalists can't legally be compelled to identify their sources," Daily Finance's Jeff Bercovici wrote this week. But they "also can't use their privileged legal status to conceal their own wrongdoing."

At the tech site Mashable, Ben Parr says it will be up to the courts to decide whether a crime was committed by Gizmodo. He points out that shield laws are not meant to "protect evidence related to the commission of a crime."