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Steve Jobs' Missing License Plate

An anonymous reader writes "One of the famous stories about Steve Jobs is that he used to drive around in a Mercedez Benz sports car with no license plates, and that he would sometimes park in Handicapped spots on Apple's Cupertino campus. Jon Callas, who used to work on OS security at Apple, explains how Jobs was able to do this legally."

28 of 579 comments (clear)

  1. Legal loopholes by sohmc · · Score: 5, Insightful

    He's okay with exploiting legal loopholes but when people want to jailbreak their phones, it's all of the sudden "let's get litigious and sue anyone that does this!"

    --
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    1. Re:Legal loopholes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      Apple may have a penchant for absurd lawsuits against other companies, but it's never sued any customer who jailbroke their phone. Nor anyone who installed OSX on a hackintosh, for that matter.

    2. Re:Legal loopholes by amliebsch · · Score: 4, Informative
      --
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    3. Re:Legal loopholes by marcello_dl · · Score: 5, Funny

      They did, however, get in a tiff when a judge ruled jail-breaking was not illegal nor did it violate the DMCA

      Source?

      10 PRINT "They did, however, get in a tiff when a judge ruled jail-breaking was not illegal nor did it violate the DMCA"

      there.

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  2. Sounds like a Slashdotter by unassimilatible · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The tinfoil hat crowd, "government out of my life" - unless they are talking about big companies they don't like, then it's, "rain down the wrath of Big Government on them!"

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    1. Re:Sounds like a Slashdotter by Fred+Ferrigno · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Corporations and people are different. Different rules ought to apply according to those differences. Do we need inspectors to visit your home kitchen to make sure you're cooking all your meat to 165 degrees and don't leave food out? No, of course not. You have the choice to prepare your own food however you'd like because you're only taking the risk upon yourself. But they'd damn well better inspect factory farms and commercial restaurants as those have the potential to affect thousands of people.

      It isn't about "small government" or "big government". Those are just slogans. It's about applying the policy that suits the situation without deciding that it has to be one way or another ahead of time.

  3. OWS by should_be_linear · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You know this economic system is broken when 40M people cannot see a doctor when they need to, and guy celebrated as next prophet is changing AMG Mercedes every 6 months, so he can avoid having a damn license plate.

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    839*929
    1. Re:OWS by StikyPad · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Not to mention getting a liver transplant with full-blown pancreatic cancer* which had already metastasized**, possibly due to his unwillingness to undergo surgery at an earlier date***, by adding himself to the transplant list in multiple states****. And he actually bad-mouthed Bill Gates for doing full-time philanthropy... I'm no Gates fan, especially during his reign at MS, but give me a break.

      * Generally a no-no, but I guess they make exceptions for billionaires.
      ** According to second-hand accounts, though it's unlikely he'd need a new liver unless the cancer had already spread. And transplanting an organ due to secondary (metastasized) cancer is a HUGE no-no, but again, I guess they make exceptions for billionaires.
      *** There's no way to know for sure if his delay made any difference, but regardless, it's almost as bad as giving a lung transplant to a patient who keeps smoking after their diagnosis.
      **** Not illegal, but most people can't afford to do it.

  4. can we please stop the steve jobs postings? by rla3rd · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The guy undeniably left his mark on the industry, and general consensus is that personally he was an ass. Nothing else new to see here, please move along.

  5. Re:Some should of keyed that car in the handicap s by SJHillman · · Score: 4, Informative

    According to the article, people did key his car for that

  6. Don't Hate by Sponge+Bath · · Score: 5, Funny

    Park different!

  7. Re:What does "flaunt law" mean? by Enry · · Score: 3, Informative

    He had cancer for 20 years?

  8. Re:Parking in Handicap by digitalsushi · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There was no reserved parking at apple. It was one of those "round table" things - first come first served, no one felt superior about their parking place. Very frustrating since there wasn't visitor parking either. You're really left to the wolves if you show up at 11 :)

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  9. Re:Legally... by chill · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You are making the assumption his ego wasn't this big before he made his money. From all indications, it was. His fortune didn't change him. It just let him act on some of his impulses.

    --
    Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
  10. Re:"Someone like Jobs"? by EvanED · · Score: 3, Informative

    If you RTFA you'd know that he's done it since the early 80s.

  11. Re:What does "flaunt law" mean? by UnknowingFool · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I haven't read the biography but I'm pretty sure Jobs was an asshole and I don't need a story like this to confirm it. He also did good things but parking illegally wasn't one of them. From what I know, he's always done it. I don't know what belief system others have but my opinion is that dying from 9 years of cancer at 56 is karma. Now don't misunderstand that I wish anyone dead but I believe you have to answer what you've done in the end.

    --
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  12. Re:We need a lot less handicapped spots... by Arlet · · Score: 5, Funny

    I mean, most of the time I go anywhere, I see nothing but prime parking spots...empty.

    Actually, the prime parking spots are on the other side of the lot, enabling you to get a healthy walk before getting back in the car.

  13. confirmation bias by spottedkangaroo · · Score: 3, Informative

    I have to admit, I thought he was an asshole before I read that...

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  14. How to park illegally by ThatsNotPudding · · Score: 3, Insightful

    We all know everyone in Cupertino down to the dog catcher was terrified of Steve Jobs getting pissed off and moving his giant filthy lucre machine. He could have shot a nun in the face inside Cupertino City Hall and there would have been no witnesses.

  15. what a dick by sl4shd0rk · · Score: 3, Insightful

    People who get busted for parking in handicapped stalls should be forced to use a wheelchair for a week instead of a ticket. It's inconsiderate, lazy and just plain douchebaggery. Don't care who you are.

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  16. Simple Explaination by pwileyii · · Score: 3

    Steve Jobs was an ass. I know people like him that don't think they should have to obey the rules they don't like, but don't have the money to get away with most of it. Steve Jobs did and believed he knew better than anyone else, so he did what he wanted when he wanted regardless of the impact it had on others.

  17. I don't understand why people worship this guy by geman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Makes no sense to me why people worship this guy. No one who ever worked with or for him really liked him. He treated people like shit. Thought the rules that we all have to follow don't apply to him. Thought he could cure cancer with herbs and diet. Yea... he was a good businessman, I will give him that. Every apple product I have ever bought has broken within a year or two, honestly i think the zune is a better product that the ipod. Speaking of Zune. Poor freaking Bill Gates. This guy is a brilliant programmer (which Steve Jobs could never do) and a businessman. And if he dies no one is going to be crying outside of best buy and putting post it notes on windows. In addition Steve Jobs ignored and denied one of his own children for the first 10 years of her life, and also never gave a cent to any charities. Bill Gates is giving away basically his entire fortune to help the less fortunate. Gates has done more for the world that Apple ever will. Yea sucks that he died, we all will die, move on.

  18. not trying to defend these actions... by demonbug · · Score: 3, Interesting

    But this brought up an interesting question. I know that California state law requires a certain number of handicapped spaces for all public parking lots and structures (public including lots intended for customers and employees), but I haven't been able to find anything about enforcing handicapped parking in private lots. Presumably, the city parking police wouldn't be cruising through a privately-owned campus like Apple's. Could an employee (or passerby) call to report such a violation? Or would the entity that owns the lot have to invite the police to enforce the handicapped parking space?

    Absolutely an asshole move to do this, I'm just wondering, legally, how it works to enforce handicapped parking in private lots. Presumably one of those who keyed the car might have considered calling to report the parking violation, so I'm thinking that the municipality's parking police aren't allowed to do anything unless the owner of the property invites them to do so (which most shopping centers etc. would likely do).

  19. Re:We need a lot less handicapped spots... by phantomlord · · Score: 5, Informative

    My dad had a brain aneurysm and stroke, leaving his left side almost entirely paralyzed, and I'm his primary caretaker. You'll see my pickup (not a big work truck, but it could just as easily be - not everyone can afford multiple vehicles) parked in those handicapped spots. Frankly we need a few feet between cars to make room for his wheelchair even without a lift (I keep it in the bed of the truck and lift it in and out myself). We've been stuck in parking lots without handicap spaces, where I have to stop where people drive through, get him out of the truck, move him over to the side, pull into a tight parking space and then go fetch him, reversing the process to get back out. While doing that, he's also had one impatient person sideswipe him in his wheelchair because they just couldn't bear to wait the couple minutes that it takes to complete the process.

    You may also see me parked in the handicapped space, get out of the truck all by myself and walk in somewhere. I never abuse the sticker, in that case, my dad is already inside and I parked there for when I bring him back out. Same thing if you see me walking to my truck by myself, chances are I was either dropping him off or I had to run back to my truck to get some paperwork we forgot or something.

    My sister has brain problems too... looks perfectly normal but goes into seizures randomly throughout the day. She has a sticker because a parking lot is a dangerous place to fall and seize in (see my dad getting hit in the wheelchair). No, she can't drive. Don't be so quick to judge people when you don't know their circumstances. Yes, there are plenty of people that abuse them (and yes, they are very easy to get), but there are a lot of legitimate people that do need those spots even if you can't tell from watching them for the 30-60 seconds it takes for them to walk inside.

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  20. Re:Legally... by elrous0 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The laws only apply to the 99%.

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  21. Re:"Someone like Jobs"? by pnutjam · · Score: 3

    I can see, by your choice of words, that you are obviously a compassionate and well educated individual.

  22. Re:"Someone like Jobs"? by hairyfeet · · Score: 3, Informative

    Actually you can't really judge by how they look. I use those spots all the time when I drive my mom and at first glance it would look like she is just fine, but if anyone followed her they would notice she goes straight to the carts which she then uses almost like a walker. she had a bad flu two years ago that ended up causing blood clots that killed portions of her lung so she needs the extra assistance of the cart and if she had to walk any real distance to get TO the cart she'd probably face plant. also long walks put too much strain on her and she'll be so winded you'd think she had been running a race, not walking through a parking lot. Now if there isn't a handicapped spot I'll let her out right in front of the door and then go find a parking spot and meet her inside, large lots are just too much for her.

    So don't judge a book by its cover friend, there are plenty of diseases like heart and lung that don't make you look crippled on the outside but can cause serious enough problems that those parking spots are required for safety reasons.

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  23. Re:We need a lot less handicapped spots... by phantomlord · · Score: 5, Informative

    Say I dropped my dad off at physical therapy... I'll pull into a handicapped spot, take him out of the truck, and wheel him into the building. He's in there for an hour, so maybe I go run a few errands and then come back to pick him up, again parking in a handicap space when I get back. In both incidents, I used the handicap space for unloading or loading a handicapped patient during that parking time - something that definitely isn't abuse. I almost never drop him curbside since he needs me to get wherever anyway (he's too dangerous with left-field neglect (doesn't see the left side of his field of vision) for a powered chair in public, though he has a scooter for around out yard). My complaint was having to park in the part of the parking lot you drive through to transfer him because the non-handicap spaces are too narrow for the wheelchair then having to leave him while I finish parking in a proper space.

    One thing that DOES really irk the hell out of me... is when people park in a handicapped space an the handicapped person stays in the car while an able-bodied person runs into a store or whatever. THAT is abusing the sticker unless the disabled person is going to come into the store themselves at some point (maybe they were finishing eating because they have to be careful how they swallow, maybe they had to deal with a colostomy/incontinence issue or something, maybe they need to adjust their brace(s), etc).

    I'm also not sure where all these open handicapped spots are that people complain about. It can often be difficult to find spots in the place where you need them the most - namely hospitals (40 or so total in a 6 floor parking garage at our main local hospital) and small doctors offices (3 at his primary care doctor, 2 at his podiatrist, etc). Even the Walmarts, malls, home improvement stores, etc here are often full. Then again, according to the census, 38% of the regional population is considered "disabled," which I just find to be insane (census currently provides an (X) but last time I checked and the data was available, it was 38 or 39, which I only remember because it floored me then).

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