And so it begins: California authorities seize the computers of Gizmodo editor.

This was bound to happen. And now it has.

Jason Chen's computers, servers, and other equipment was seized by authorities with a felony warrant last week. According to AppleInsider, Chen and his wife were not home during the seize but later came home while it was in process. Chen was not arrested.

This has been expected after the much hyped story of Gizmodo's acquisition of a prototype iPhone. The phone was purchased for $5000 from an individual who came to possess it after an Apple engineer lost it in a German bar.

This whole story has stunk to high heaven of shady journalism and blatant illegal activity on the part of Gizmodo and the individual who sold them the stolen phone. I use the phrase "stolen", because the individual (and Gizmodo) did nothing to return the phone to the rightful owner. And purchasing a prototype that is so obviously the property of a company from a shady individual who was looking to turn a buck is inexcusable...and ILLEGAL!

This is the tech story that keeps on giving. Personally, I have deleted my Gizmodo bookmarks, unsubscribed from their RSS feed, and am now using Engadget as my gadget fetish blog. I recommend others do the same if they value quality blogging, the cannons of journalism, and the law.

Full Story: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/04/26/california_authorities_seize_computers_of_gizmodo_editor.html