In your opinion do you think the guy that found the phone should be jailed?

Fined & community service should be just fine, but people have been jailed for less.

Shoot! I don't know how to make the image larger so you all can read it. Here is the link to the above comic: http://www.foxtrot.com/comics/2010-05-16-55fd67ba.gif

Actually, there is something quite wrong with it. While Apple has every right to to file a complaint, press charges, etc, NO individual or corporate entity has any business directing or pressuring law enforcement in the carrying out of their duties. Ever. If there's an issue with stagnation or delay in the carrying out of those duties, then that's a job for those higher up or maybe in different channels. That didn't happen here, and public service shouldn't be bought by private interests. EVER. That it actually happens should be more of a wake-up call to us than it is.



EXACTLY.

In what way do you feel Apple directed or pressured law enforcement in this case? I haven't heard or read anything indicating they did anything other than file a complaint and provide police with information regarding the prototype unit and other details of the case ...

i heard steve jobs attached C4 to the door personally …then shouted "yippee kaiyaee mother…" as half the building went down

Uhm, you read the article, right?
Apple put a bit of a squeeze on law enforcement. How much of a squeeze is a matter of debate, unless you were there when it happened, and I certainly wasn't. Of course, law enforcement has the authority to determine for themselves how much force is necessary to accomplish a given task, and they should be held accountable for those decisions, ultimately, but even so, a corporation shouldn't be able to pressure law enforcement, by any amount or means.

Define "a bit of a squeeze" -- All the article says is that "Apple pressed" for an investigation. I think I would press for one, too, if something of mine had been stolen. I would imagine the police feel some amount of pressure from every single person who files one to investigate their complaint. The question here is wether Apple "pressing" for an investigation represents undue "pressure" or rather is something merely appropriate for the circumstances.

Again, I'm not seeing where Apple pressured law enforcement into doing anything they wouldn't have ordinarily done, or where Apple pulled any particularly special strings to get what they wanted ... (except for the C-4 incident, which I admit was slightly over the top ;-)

Again, the prototype had been returned and details already leaked to the public. There was no need to break into the man's house, and no manner of Apple-fan psychological gymnastics changes that. It was overkill. While the police may feel pressure during an investigation, it is their job, responsibility, and area of expertise to exercise restraint and keep that pressure in check, rather than having it the other way around. You'll have a hard time convincing anyone of sound reason that it was 'appropriate' to break into a man's house and remove his computers from the premises in this situation. If higher ups in the legal food chain are bringing such decision-making into question (and, AGAIN, they are), then this is more than a few armchair lawyers, activist groups (think EFF and the like), and Apple-bashers raising a prejudiced stink. This is something which needs deep examination.



He may as well have. In the military, we had a cliche for not overdoing something to dramatic degree- "Don't nuke it."