I read a pretty disturbing blog post not on substance or content but of overall invasion of rights last night written by Jason Kincaid of TechCrunch. The base of the article covered in detail the search and seizure conducted on behalf of California’s Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team courtesy of Apple.
What’s going on?
Now let me clue those of you in who aren’t in the know of what has transpired in the past week. I learned like most of the tech world that a next generation iPhone had been recovered by someone who found it in a bar (yes a bar I couldn’t make this up). To make a long story short Engadget to my knowledge had pictures of the phone prior to Gizmodo stepping up the anti by purchasing the phone off of the person who had found it for 5 grand!
Then Gizmodo in probably the biggest blog post of the year wrote and video taped a review of this mysterious phone know one knew for sure was a next gen iPhone. Well, with a couple of obtainable resources from their buddy Apple-connected John Gruber—from Daring Fireball—they learned that Apple has indeed lost a prototype iPhone and they wanted it back.
Look at this letter Apple sent to Gizmodo asking for their property: Click here!
The legal ramifications
Gawker the parent company of Gizmodo had the COO Gaby Darbyshire respond about the legal actions that were taken he stated by citing California Penal Code 1524(g), which states that “no warrant shall issue for any items described in Section 1070 of the Evidence Code”, which protects information obtained in protection of a news organization. Darbyshire also points out that the California Court of Appeal has previously found that these protections apply to online journalists (O’Grady v. Superior Court).
During the search Chen’s door was broken open because he wasn’t home to open it then his external hard drives, four computers, two servers, phones and more were all seized.
To see the warrant Chen received from the police: Click here
A moment of clarity
So while you’re reading this you’re probably saying to yourself a couple of things:
- ALL OF THIS FOR A PHONE?
- Can they really do this?
Well, to answer those questions briefly yes they have done this over a phone and for the moment yes apparently they can do this but this is my overall point of writing this post. My thing is as a blogger I want to know hopefully along with you the reader (especially if you’re a blogger) do I have the rights that a journalist may have?
In the end
What most people don’t understand about this blogging world is that it isn’t a game and you shouldn’t take it for granted because you may think you’re doing great “journalistic work” but all it takes is a huge following and one honest opinion and a conglomerate company like an Apple or whoever may come after you legally.
The reality is most blogging companies who are small and independent much like our blog don’t have the resources or financial war chest to sustain such a legal intrusion.
But Back to the matter at hand do you think if this phone fell into the hands of a journalist from the New York Times who would have posted a full review along with exclusive pictures who then would in turn have their house seized because of it?!
I doubt it, but it is something you should think about and definitely consider because I believe not by design Gizmodo will open a whole new debate about the rights of bloggers and journalists by contesting the warrant and out right invasion their editor had to endure. All in all I hope this post sheds a different light on the pettiness of Apple.
Check out TechCrunch post that helped inspire my thoughts: Click here
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Nice post – some very valid points..what would have happened if it was a big paper that found the phone? and yes, the lines are getting blurred now with regards to the role of bloggers, as we (society) turn to the web for news and read more blogs surely in time some rights will be bestowed upon bloggers..but, then the question is, how do you define a blogger who has “credibility” for journalistic rights. I think you could be right that Gizmodo may have kicked off one big old debate..
Thanks for commenting I definitely appreciate you taking the time to read the post and hope to have you visit regularly. My motivation was simple, I read what happened to Giz and I felt instantly I had to write something that could hopefully enlighten people about the grim side of blogging.