Police raid blogger who divulged new Apple iPhone model

SAN FRANCISCO — Police have seized computers and other equipment from the home of a blogger who published reports about Apple Inc.’s forthcoming, next-generation iPhone using a lost version of the device.

Gizmodo.com published a report Monday saying that California’s Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team entered blogger Jason Chen’s home on Friday, “seizing four computers and two servers.”

Chen last week published a report on Gizmodo providing photos and details of a next-generation iPhone mistakenly left at a Redwood City, Calif., bar by an Apple employee.

Gizmodo’s parent, Gawker Media LLC, later publicly acknowledged paying $5,000 to an unnamed individual who provided them with the phone.

The means by which Gizmodo obtained the device has stirred speculation that it may have violated a California law covering the appropriation of stolen property for personal benefit.

According to documents posted by Gizmodo on Monday,
police obtained a search warrant to enter Chen’s home based on probable
cause that his equipment was used “as the means of committing a felony.”

According to an account of the raid by Chen posted
Monday, the blogger returned home Friday to find police searching
through his possessions, having broken down the front door.

Gawker’s legal representative, Gaby Darbyshire,
had previously advised Chen to not allow police into his home, as “a
search warrant may not be validly issued to confiscate the property of
a journalist,” according to documents posted on Gizmodo.

The Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team describes itself as a task force under the authorization of the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office as well as other local, state and federal agencies.

Its agents are both California peace officers and U.S. federal agents.

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