Gizmodo is reporting that Jason Chen, their editor responsible for the “missing iPhone prototype” story, had his home raided by local police armed with an arrest warrant. This police action was a direct consequence Gizmodo’s purchase of the missing iPhone prototype(which may have been illegal). In total, the police confiscated four computers, two servers, and other relevant material, totaling 24 items.
The police knocked down Chen’s door, while he was out to dinner, in order to carry out the warrant. As the police were rifling though Chen’s belongings, he proceeded to inform the officers of a claim made by Gaby Darbyshire (COO of Gawker Media, the parent company of Gizmodo) suggesting that the warrant is illegal under journalist protection laws. The officers ignored this.
The law hinted at by Darbyshire is section 1524(g) of the California Penal Code. As John Gruber points out, this is a flimsy defense at best. These laws offer protection for journalist sources that may have committed crimes. Not if the journalist has committed crimes themselves.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Jennifer Granick believes the search and seizure may still in violation of the law.
“There are both federal and state laws here in California that protect reporters and journalists from search and seizure for their news gathering activities. The federal law is the Privacy Protection Act and the state law is a provision of the penal code and evidence code. It appears that both of those laws may be being violated by this search and seizure.”
TechCruch also notes that investigation is on hold, until the legality of the search and seizure is sorted out.
I’m no lawyer, but the way I see it Gizmodo blew this story up, bought stolen goods, and revealed the identity of the Apple engineer who lost the iPhone in the first place. They are the ones committing the crime, and they cannot claim themselves as a source for immunity.
This will be fun to watch play out.
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