iPhone Prototype Causes Police To Raid Bloggers Home

Local law enforcement officers seized several computers and other devices Friday from a Fremont journalist at Gizmodo, a technology blog that recently purchased an iPhone prototype lost by an Apple engineer. According t...

Local law enforcement officers seized several computers and other devices Friday from a Fremont journalist at Gizmodo, a technology blog that recently purchased an iPhone prototype lost by an Apple engineer. According to the warrant reposted on Gizmodos Web site, detectives seized several digital cameras, external hard drives, flash drives, a credit card and credit card bills from the house of Gizmodo blogger and editor Jason Chen, who has written extensively about the next-generation iPhone an Apple engineer lost at a Redwood City bar in March. Gizmodo got its hands on the mobile device after paying $5,000 to an unknown man who found the phone the night the engineer lost it. Officers at the Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team, a California high-tech crime task force composed of members of various local Bay Area law enforcement agencies, served a San Mateo County warrant Friday that stated there was probable cause to believe that the appliances were used as the means to committing a felony. The warrant did not detail the felony in question. REACT officers declined to comment if the warrant was related to the iPhone prototype acquired by Gizmodo. Officials with Gawker Media, Gizmodos parent company, promptly wrote a letter to the detective in charge, saying that Chen was protected by the states Shield Law, which protects journalists from sharing unpublished, work-related material. It is abundantly clear that under the law a search warrant to remove these items was invalid, Gawker Media Chief Operating Officer Gaby Darbyshire said in the letter. In the circumstances, we expect the immediate return of materials that you confiscated from Mr. Chen. Rumors floated Friday that Apple had contacted REACT about the missing device. Gizmodo apparently anticipated officers would visit Chens home. Chens account of the operation, which was published on Gizmodo, suggests Gawker e-mailed the task force an excerpt of the states Shield Law. Chen also handed a copy to the officers serving the warrant, which took it as evidence. Peter Scheer, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, said the California Shield Law and the Federal Privacy Protection provide protection against this sort of thing.