I understand that the gentleman consented to a warrantless search. Whether the police were bullies or just hinted they would go easy if consent was granted (and it looks like they did), we haven’t been told.
But it would be wrong, and bizarre, for the police to delegate that to Apple, not even having one officer watching. After all, the city would be responsible if something went wrong.
Also it’s not right for cops to just randomly knock on your door and say I need to look for stuff.
Sure you have the right to say not without a warrant, but the police aren’t supposed to just show up knocking on random houses looking for stuff either.
The cops should be fired. The apple guys should be arrested. And Apple should be fined heavily. And this guy should sue Apple. It’s not like it will put a dent in their balance sheet, but still they need to be taught a lesson. I guess one way it would hurt is if the judge allows punitive damages in that case the guy could make out like a bandit if he sues and wins. You know how much money you’d have to take from apple so that it had a punitive effect? Wowser!
I am not sure but apples research an development folks sign away their rights pretty much to work there including such invasive searches of their property at work an at home etc...
If this was a secret product prototype.... They came after the intellectual property under that agreement I’d bet.
Just a thought to ponder.
It’s a pretty bizarre event....
Ahh, that puts a different cast on it. Of course, if could be a publicity stunt (the program on the device is “invaluable”) and gets the buzz going. It happened before. But what do I know? (I use Windows and Linux.)