Apple's Revenge: Cops Raid Blogger's Home Over iPhone Prototype Story

California police raided the home of Gizmodo editor Jason Chen on Friday after the tech blogger posted a story about the next generation iPhone. Chen had paid a source $5000 for the phone after it was accidentally left in a bar by an Apple researcher.

Gizmodo.com editor Jason Chen came home Friday to find cops in his house, looking for evidence of a felony linked to an online expose about the new iPhone. "They then made me place my hands behind my head and searched me to make sure I had no weapons or sharp objects on me," Chen wrote on his Web site Monday night. Chen said a detective told him it search stemmed from "a misunderstanding that could be cleared up if I answered some questions." He refused to be grilled. A search warrant signed by a San Mateo County Superior Court Judge indicated detectives were searching for evidence connected to lost Apple device. The warrant allowed sheriff's detectives to seize all records, "including digital photographs and/or video of the Apple prototype 4G iPhone."

Detectives seized Chen's computers, hard drives, and a digital camera. California's shield laws protect journalists from being forced to turn over their sources. Nick Denton of Gawker Media, Gizmodo's owner, asks: "Are bloggers journalists? I guess we'll find out." After Apple had acknowledged that the phone was theirs, it was returned by Gizmodo, but not before it had been disassembled and critiqued in a lengthy column by Chen. He faces possible felony charges.