Privilege
Etymology of privilege:
1154 (recorded earlier in O.E., but as a Latin word), from O.Fr. privilege (12c.), from L. privilegium “law applying to one person,” later “privilege,” from privus “individual” + lex (gen. legis) “law.”
From CBS and CNet: Police Said Close to Expanding iPhone Prototype Probe
One reason for an expanded investigation is obvious: law enforcement wants to learn who found the so-called 4G prototype and offered it for sale. California law makes it a crime for someone to find lost property but not return it.
Josh Topolsky, Engadget’s editor-in-chief, said police haven’t contacted anyone in his organization as of Monday evening. Engadget had communicated with the person who found the iPhone prototype, reportedly in a Redwood City, Calif., bar in San Mateo County, and posted a handful of photographs on April 17.
Apple sells the iPhone 3G S for $199. When I was in law enforcement $250 [it was a long time ago, so the limit is probably much higher now] was the minimum value for a felony, so we are looking at petit larceny, a misdemeanor. In this case the property was returned to Apple after it was “advertised” and they identified themselves as the owner.
Why are warrants being sought and issued, doors being smashed, personal property being seized for such an insignificant matter? Is San Mateo so crime free that their police department has nothing better to do?
This smells an awful lot like the San Mateo Police Department is now working for Apple. Does Steve Jobs have his own laws?
2 comments
But of course Steve Jobs has his own laws. The rich aren’t like you and I. If they need a liver transplant, for example, none of that pesky waiting in line is necessary — just simultaneously put yourself on the transplant list of every state of the nation, and board a jet for the first liver to become available! That’s how the rich do it. Rules? Rules are for the little people.
In the San Jose Murky Press today, the San Mateo County Sheriff’s department, under fire from journalistic organizations berating them for violating California’s very strict shield law (which makes it absolutely illegal to use any sort of police action against a journalist to find or force him to turn over his source unless the journalist himself is accused of committing a crime), has announced that they’ve put their investigation on hold pending legal review. In other words, they suddenly realized that, uhm, California’s laws might not apply to Steve Jobs, but it does apply to the Sheriff’s department, and they might be in for a world of hurt. My guess is that they’re closeted with the D.A. right now trying to find some legal decision, somewhere, that could give them an umbrella for their overstep…
– Badtux the Amused Law Penguin
I’m a little confused as to who the complainant/victim is supposed to be. I assume it is Apple, but this case goes South at arraignment. I can’t really see a judge being ready to waste the court’s time on this turkey with all the money problems at every level of government.