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Did Apple Impersonate Police To Recover the Lost iPhone 5?
zacharye writes "This whole lost iPhone 5 prototype story just got whole lot more interesting. According to SF Weekly, six investigators claiming to be members of the San Francisco police department descended upon one Bernal Heights, San Francisco man's home in search of a lost iPhone 5 prototype that CNET originally reported had been left in a bar. The scary part? The SFPD does not seem to be aware of such an investigation. Instead, it appears as though they may have actually been members of Apple's security team allegedly impersonating police officers."
So far this claim seems to be developing solely through media communications; in order for the SFPD to start an investigation, the man whose house was searched would need to speak with the police directly. Update: 09/03 12:14 GMT by S : A later report indicates police were present, but they stood outside while Apple employees searched the house. No police report was filed because Apple wanted it kept a secret.
The San Francisco police and Apple lads at odds? I foresee a Sissy Boy Slap Party!
Trolling is a art,
It all depends on what they said and did. A lot of people mistake private security for police, but it doesn't mean they're impersonating them.
Ha, the San Francisco Police Department WISHES they were as powerful as Apple security. Half the security guys at Apple have licenses to kill, and a pretty good portion of them are ninjas.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
This is hilarious! Why do they give out these phones anyway? Besides, Apple is a religion. The security team should have impersonated priests to get the phone back.
Democracy Now! - your daily, uncensored, corporate-free
There's a reason the SFPD doesn't know about it. It never happened. The entire incident, from the loss to the "search" is a story designed to generate hype for the iPhone 5.
Six guys in black mock turtlenecks, round rim wireframe glasses and blue jeans weren't enough of a giveaway?
They need to take the farse at least one tiny step further than last year in order to make shitty hearlines like this.
Also where is the astroturfing tag?
iPigs
Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
Actually they usually go with hired private security for things like this.
"FBI style raids"? seriously, lose the drama.
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
not to talk about this. Luckily he will never press "The Button". He hates buttons.
- this Apple employee "lost" an iPhone5 at a bar
- this undercover Apple employee "found it" and listed it on craigslist
- this undercover Apple employee bought it for $200
- this Apple employee in a uniform picked it up
- the whole internet ran wee-wee-wee silliness about it
It's all part of the hype machine's advertising campaign. You guys have all been fooled.
Sadly, this is just a small hint of what's to come. I don't expect anything other than full-on corporate armies, each waging espionage and intellectual (and other) warfare against one another, to be the future of the US. Get used to it. Soon Apples Security team WILL be the police dept. :(
(and every other company with the money/man-power).
that when the police wants to know where somebody is, they ask Apple?
The number they gave him was of an Apple employee whose title is "senior investigator" and who previously worked for the San Jose PD.
Maybe they were real cops. Maybe he called in an unofficial favor...
The guy admits he was at Cava. Just how did Apple find his house?
Sure, the fake cop thing is troubling.
But still, how did Apple discover the location of some random guy who had drinks at Cava?
Apple == BAD? Maybe.
But one wonders if in fact this random guy who had drinks at Cava was in fact at one time had the stolen/ lost phone?
Otherwise, how would Apple Thugs found his address?
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
for a sign of intelligent life. Finding none, I moved on.
I hope they nail Apple to the fucking wall.
This is too far.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Boring.
Did they have Don Johnson with them?
That would have convinced me they were legit too...
You mean other than talking to the actual SFPD that does indeed have a report of the incident? That and calling the number the man was given and finding out it goes to Apple security.
Here's what they look like: http://i.imgur.com/CmLXu.jpg
crazy dynamite monkey
Its a big old marketing ploy. Thumbs down.
Or is it more likely that rather than having a company commit very-easily-provable felonies, the person who claims he was "raided by Apple security pretending to be cops" is just plain lying, and that he dug up Apple security's phone somewhere to attempt to lend credibility to an otherwise unbelievable story?
Everybody gets what the majority deserves.
so who will take the fall for this?
I wish he'd leave Buttons alone, if it weren't for him, Mindy would certainly be crushed by a steamroller or fall off the Eiffel Tower.
It is possible, but surely that would come out pretty quickly when the actual SFPD has a look. If he was just looking for some publicity, you might think he would call CNET, but NOT the actual police.
Or the whole story is fabricated to garner attention. Or some people have staged the whole affair to cause trouble for Apple. Or an Apple employee(s) made a foolish mistake. Or somebody(s) just plain ol' lyin'.
Why?
I thought the iPhone had tracing and remote data wiping.
A number of police departments in my area permit moonlighting by their cops. In some cases, this just means security in front of the local dance club. But some of them make pretty good coin working security for local companies or detective agencies.
Those may have been real stinkin' badges.
Have gnu, will travel.
It only matters whether they had a search warrant. If so, it was legal. Search warrants do not have to be served by the police force having jurisdiction over the property being searched. For search warrants, it's the jurisdiction of the judge signing it that matters, so a California state judge can't issue a warrant for a property in New Jersey, for example. And if the guy didn't ask to see the search warrant, he made a big mistake.
It doesn't matter whether they were SFPD. They could have been a nearby police force such as South San Francisco (a separate city), or any number of other nearby city police forces, or county sheriff's deputies, or they could have been one of the task forces set up to combat computer crime in the Bay Area, or they could have been a federal agency.
My best guess (and only a guess) was that it was the Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team that operates out of offices in Campbell, CA. They have state-wide jurisdiction.
Clueless article, repeated by clueless Slashdot editor.
Is this just a really delayed Deja Vu or what?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-10
of course anything can fly given enough thrust
Any person using FTFY or editing my postings agrees to a US$50.00 charge
Non-cops, ex-cops, bad guys -- impersonating an officer has gone on forever, especially among detectives and security guys. You almost have to give ex-cops a break, acting coplike is probably a tough habit to break.
Generally speaking, white, middle class people do exactly what they're told when a "cop" tells them what to do.
I did a ride-along with a friend who is a cop and it was almost hilarious. Upstanding white people did EXACTLY what I suggested, in a "Is-this-OK?" manner, despite the fact that the cop was in uniform and I wore civilian clothes.
Why is everyone convinced that this is real? Is there some hard evidence that I don't know about? Any evidence indicating:
Sneaking around isn't really Apple's modus operandi. If they reacted the way they did last time, this would look totally different, and they haven't given any kind of impression that they were unhappy with the way they handled it last time. If Apple decided to break the law instead of just calling the police (who appear willing to answer Apple's calls) and expose themselves to massive liability with a plan that was very unlikely to work (impersonate a cop and ask for the phone) then why wouldn't they just kick the guy's door in and threaten to shoot him in the head? Once he gave back the iPhone (if he had it) he wouldn't have any evidence to show that Apple threatened him, and if he did, he would probably be too wise to call them on it.
This whole thing screams fake. And tedious fake. It used to be that people in the media were suckered by better con artists than the ones walking around today.
You contract out of house for Shadowrunners, for the sake of plausible deniability.
Having your own security team do it, off territory? That's just stupidity.
You don't look where real bubble is. Apple P/E is misleading at best. Their market cap relies on inflated profits - mostly from iPhone and iTab 'luxury' products with monopoly-like profit margins on both. Take these margins away (hello, Android) and it will pop. With $350B invested into their stock it is clearly visible why not only Apple but half of Wall Street fights teeth and nails with commodization in this area in general and Google/Android in particular.
Of what consequence to nerds, I ask you, Slashdot.
Looks like something out the Scientology playbook.
... If he was just looking for some publicity, you might think he would call CNET, but NOT the actual police.
which, of course, is exactly what happened... Which is probably why the police are saying they're not going to do diddly squat until he gets in touch with them *himself*.
Simon
Physicists get Hadrons!
Suppose Apple's security team did do this (I'm not saying that they did). Would Tim Cook be charged by police? Likely not. Someone else, likely the employee who did it, would be charged, and Apple might pay a fine, but Apple wouldn't go to jail.
But the guys who run Gizmodo, they're hauled before the court.
I think if corporations expect to have the rights that people have (free speech), then their CEOs and Board should be responsible for behavior carried out by the corporation. Of course, that's incredibly impractical. But I think that just means corporations should not have the rights of individuals. Or, conversely, individuals should have all rights that a corporation has -- like, say, lease a vehicle and deduct the expenses from your taxable income.
Apple would have sent around an internal email asking employees to stop bringing unreleased phones to bars or even leaving company property with them. Almost like they want these stories to get out ...
through media communications"
Translation: "So far, this story is nothing but random speculation and an odd form of bigotry peddled by morons and websites hankering after page-views".
Load of toss. Wait until the SFPD say something before posting such wank next time.
No, wait, Slashdot are hankering after page-views too. Fuck you, Slashdot.
I agree it sounds setup.
But, Apple *might* want to get it back without police intervention because it makes Apple look a bit clueless, letting their employees lose prototypes multiple times.
My inclination is to think one of these two possibilities:
1. CalderÃn made the whole thing up, Apple has no involvement. CalderÃn thinks he can squeeze money out of Apple or potential media outlets that pay for stories (Gawker clearly pays for stories).
2. Apple made it all up, and CalderÃn is on the payroll.
The fact that neither CalderÃn or Apple has called the cop in officially is quite telling.
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
If the homeowner let a bunch of asshats into their house to perform a search without a warrant signed by a judge
Badge or no badge
The owner is an idiot.
Real question: why is every tidbit about Apple deemed important? SFWeekly got bad information, corrected within hours by the SFPD, but this non-story blows up with talk about how it's Tim Cook's first crisis and how this is a felony. Ridiculous.
San Francisco Police Department spokesman Lt. Troy Dangerfield now tells SF Weekly that "three or four" SFPD officers accompanied two Apple security officials
So, now we can stop with the Apple FUD, right?
[citation needed]
From TFA:
"This is something that's going to need to be investigated now," SFPD spokesman Lt. Troy Dangerfield said, when informed about the Bernal Heights man's statements to SF Weekly. "If this guy is saying that the people said they were SFPD, that's a big deal."
And a little further down:
Dangerfield said police plan to look into Calderón's allegations. "There's something amiss here. If we searched someone's house, there would be a police report," Dangerfield said.
Darn it. /. ate my reply...
Citation supplied, from the *same* FA:
"Troy Dangerfield of the SFPD called to clarify his above statements: The police will only investigate if Calderón chooses to speak with them directly and share information about the people who came to his house. (So far, the SFPD has not spoken to Calderón, but only learned of his story through SF Weekly.)"
Also, (in fairness, probably after you posted the above), it's all irrelevant now - since (again, from the same FA) "Update (3:25 p.m.): Police now say they did assist Apple security with the home search of a Bernal Heights man"
Simon
Physicists get Hadrons!
The police did just about nothing. I called Sprint and after 30 minutes of being bounced around, I was given the last number the phone had called. It was a 30 minute call to an out of state number. I called that number myself. It was the perps father. He claimed his son called him and said he was using a friends phone. I called the police and they took a report. They called the father and he said his son never had my missing phone, he was using a friends phone. Police told me the did not have enough evidence to continue on and there was nothing else they could do.
Short story, the common man is a bother to local police, bug business is not.
What. The. Fuck.
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_18816728
After first telling this newspaper that it could find no record of its officers taking part in the search, SFPD on Friday acknowledged its personnel had gone to the house, but said only Apple employees went inside to search.
this is wrong in so many ways. I wonder if SFPD can be sued.. while the search wasn't conducted by LE (therefore technically no illegal search) - they were there which implies (to the resident) this is a sanctioned police action.
That isn't how the law works. A cop working for a company is not a cop.
http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2011/09/iphone_5_apple_police.php
I see the problem, the version I read didn't have any of the updates, including the ones you quoted. So it was a *different* *same* FA. They need version numbers if they're going to do that.
The fully updated version is little better though, it just implicates the SF detectives as well. They have no business passing private security off as fellow SF detectives and allowing them to search someone's house (or fior that matter, taking civillians along on a search in the first place). If the immigration threats and such are even partially true, it's even worse.
Coming in a distant third, I wouldn't trust the GPS on a new iPhone very much :-)
When public resources, such as the time and attention of the police officers, are used for private benefit, whether Apple's or any other organization or individual, it should never, ever be allowed to be "... kept a secret."
Cops have special status in my state 24x7, on duty or off. What you might be thinking about is their right to search and seize evidence. Cops don't have that right either on the job or off unless they are carrying a warrant, issued by a court. But if they pound on the door and verbally bully someone into handing something over, they aren't necessarily abusing their cop powers.
Have gnu, will travel.
Not the iPhone... It's the all new iDiot. Six samples have been sent to your neighbor already!
Companies so powerful they ignore the law. Reminds me of the Jennifer Government book.
Can't believe no one seems to know about this but iPhones have an opt-in feature where you can find the location of your phone through an Apple website. The phone periodically sends it's location to Apple at the user's request.
I thought there was an Apple app for recovering lost prototypes.
We all know that a bunch of Genius-tards' man-lovers (Market St. Apple Store) posed as detectives. I heard it at Starbucks this morning from a guy who heard it at a Castro gym, so it's gotta be true, right? Anyway, if this is true, I'm selling all my Apple stuff on ebay or craigslist, including the green straw from Starbucks that Steve and Larry Ellison used to do trucker rails out back at the Moscone Center after Steve's last keynote, that Steve dropped.