Ready to Hate Apple?

[RWebb]

Man Claims Apple Investigators Pretended To Be SF Police In Searching For Lost iPhone Prototype | Techdirt

[motion]

Serious, if true, but who really believes that Apple would do something like this.

[imcarthur]

True or not, it is only a matter of time before the core starts rotting.

Ian

[dad911]

Sounds more like an overzealous employee (ex-cop) acting on his own than a company directive.

[john70t]

Why didn't Apple just track the location of "it's" product from central command?
It still does that, with every one of it's Apple customers.

Google: "Apple" and "GPS/cellular tower tracking" and "privacy".

[legion]

Doesn't surprise me in the least. Some of us remember how Apple treated customers back in the 80's...

[widebody911]

This isn't the first time this has happened.

Where does the State end and the Corporation begin? Who answers to whom?

[A930Rocket]

I was just reading thus in another site. Just unf'ing believable.

This screams lawsuit by the guy getting searched.

[porsche4life]

Google, android,tracking, and privacy. Google is invading way worse on the cell tracking.

Why didn't Apple just track the location of "it's" product from central command?

It still does that, with every one of it's Apple customers.



Google: "Apple" and "GPS/cellular tower tracking" and "privacy".

[red-beard]

I was wondering when when people would figure out that Apple is an evil corporation too...

[enzo1]

Lost iPhone 5 Update: Police 'Assisted' Apple Investigators in Search of SF Man's Home - San Francisco News - The Snitch ​The bizarre saga involving a lost prototype of the iPhone 5 has taken another interesting turn. Contradicting past statements that no records exist of police involvement in the search for the lost prototype, San Francisco Police Department spokesman Lt. Troy Dangerfield now tells SF Weekly that "three or four" SFPD officers accompanied two Apple security officials in an unusual search of a Bernal Heights man's home.

Dangerfield says that, after conferring with Apple and the captain of the Ingleside police station, he has learned that plainclothes SFPD officers went with private Apple detectives to the home of Sergio Calderón, a 22-year-old resident of Bernal Heights. According to Dangerfield, the officers "did not go inside the house," but stood outside while the Apple employees scoured Calderón's home, car, and computer files for any trace of the lost iPhone 5. The phone was not found, and Calderón denies that he ever possessed it.

In an interview with SF Weekly last night, Calderón told us that six badge-wearing visitors came to his home in July to inquire about the phone. Calderón said none of them acknowledged being employed by Apple, and one of them offered him $300, and a promise that the owner of the phone would not press charges, if he would return the device.

The visitors also allegedly threatened him and his family, asking questions about their immigration status. "One of the officers is like, 'Is everyone in this house an American citizen?' They said we were all going to get into trouble," Calderón said.

One of the officers left a phone number with him, which SF Weekly traced to Anthony Colon, an investigator employed at Apple, who declined to comment when we reached him.

Reached this afternoon, Calderón confirmed that only two of the six people who came to his home actually entered the house. He said those two did not specifically state they were police officers.

However, he said he was under the impression that they were all police, since they were part of the group outside that identified themselves as SFPD officials. The two who entered the house did not disclose that they were private security officers, according to Calderón.

"When they came to my house, they said they were SFPD," Calderón said. "I thought they were SFPD. That's why I let them in." He said he would not have permitted the search if he had been aware the two people conducting it were not actually police officers.

It remains unclear whether these actions might constitute impersonation of a police officer, which in California is a misdemeanor that can bring up to a year of jail time. Apple has not responded to our requests for comment. "I don't have any indication of that. I'm not going to go there," Dangerfield said, when asked about whether the Apple detectives might have misrepresented themselves.

Dangerfield said he plans to contact Calderón to ask further questions about the incident.

At the least, the incident is sure to raise questions about the propriety of multiple SFPD officers helping private detectives conduct a search -- which was never properly recorded, per standard police operating procedure -- of somebody's home. "Apple came to us saying that they were looking for a lost item, and some plainclothes officers responded out to the house with them," Dangerfield said. "My understanding is that they stood outside." He added, "They just assisted Apple to the address."

Dangerfield said he was not aware of whether it was a San Francisco police officer or one of the Apple security officers who first knocked on Calderón's door. "Anyone has a right to keep people from their homes if they don't want them there, legally," Dangerfield said.

It is also unclear why records of SFPD officers' involvement did not emerge until now. Yesterday SFPD spokesman Officer Albie Esparza said that "we don't have any record of such an investigation going on at this point." The tech-news site CNET first reported on the lost phone prototype earlier this week.

[red-beard]

So, not only is he stupid, he doesn't understand his constitutional rights against search without a warrant. This is thuggery not just by Apple, but by the SFPD. He shoud never have consented to a search.

[techweenie]

Something stinks here. They were pretty heavy-handed in dealing with the first lost iPhone, too.

[azasadny]

I already hate Apple....

[RWebb]

in other news articles, the SFPD originally said they have no records on this at all

now the SFPD is confirming they did assist

but cops have no mandate to advise you of most of your rights - too bad he didn't know his right to refuse a search

[jriera]

San Francisco Police Did Assist Apple in House Search of iPhone 5 - Mac Rumors