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Four California teens were allegedly detained by the manager of an Apple store they had just left, after they installed a third-party game on a demo iPhone. The miscreants claim they were given a firm lecture on the dangers of hacking and photographed so staff at other Apple stores could keep a look out for them.

That'll learn 'em. The only applications an iPhone needs are the ones God^h^h^h Steve Jobs gave it. The Apple Store employees acted quite rightly when they saw heathen software being loaded onto the Jesus-phone. Ex-communication from all local Apple stores was clearly the right thing to do.

Si


I had some fun once walking out of a US store. Paid, was about to leave the store when some uniformed oink wanted to check my bags (note, this is AFTER point of payment, and I'm out of the physical store in the mall). Playing along I asked him to identify himself, but he got very tense when I took out a pen and made note of his name and proceeded to threaten me that he had hold me and call the police if I "didn't cooperate".

I am *really* the wrong guy to mess with on that topic (think "Do you feel lucky, punk?") but I was short of time so I straightened my back and only gave this guy a blast lecture on law and order at full military volume and pitch, right in front of all the customers coming out of the store. Normally I would have then called the police myself and have him taken in for impersonating an officer of the law, but I was short of time.

For all I know he's still standing there, frozen.

I positively *detest* little jerkoffs who equate a uniform to a personality, so one getting in my way is an invitation for trouble. It appears the smarter ones have learned to recognise that..

Anonymous Coward


In the England and Wales a citizen only has the right to arrest if a indictable crime has is being or has been committed, or a person has reasonable grounds for believing so. Im pretty sure downloading a game to an Iphone is not a indicatble offence and no "reasonable" person would consider it to be hacking. Furthermore as the arrest would be unlawful in said circumstance, it would not be an offence to resist the arrest so long as reasonable force is used.

I of course have no idea what the law would be in the US but would imagine it would be similar.

Paul Ryder


The store manager has the legal right to ban the teens from the store (trespass), but he cannot legally demand they return to the store (no actual crime committed) and if he detains or tries to detain them under the cirumstances described he would be guilty of either false arrest (and liable for it), false imprisonment (if holding them at the store) or have to literally assault them to force them back to the store (another arrestable offence, itself). Furthermore, taking pictures of the minors and passing them around (whatever his intentions) would also get him promptly sued. The police sound like they acted in an appropriate manner considering the story, but that manager would be up shit creek if that had been my kid(s)...both on a personal and legal level.

Anonymous Coward

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