Had you made seemingly ANY effort to find the owner of the phone I would be more inclined to side with you and say that you would be entitled to the phone. But it appears you simply picked it up, walked out of the room, and never looked back.

Until recently all US iPhones were on the AT&T network, which there are as many of those stores laying around as there are Starbucks (or in terms you might understand better, Tim Hortons). You could have taken the phone to any of those stores and they could have found the owner.

No, you simply took off with it with no effort made to get the phone back to the owner. In this case you're nothing more than a common thief.

--LT

Not pointing fingers here but this is getting way too personal. Slam the crime not the person.

As to finding lost property? ... It isn't finders keepers. If you find something that belongs to someone else you have simply found something that belongs to someone else. It doesn't becomes yours just because you would like to have it.

Sorry Jema, I'm not sugar coating this one. He's at a young enough age he needs to be slapped upside the head and told how wrong this is.

Doing what he did is theft, plain and simple. He needs to be called what he is - He is a thief. He made absolutely no effort to get the phone back to its owner, transported the stolen property over an international boundary, then proceeded to wipe it clean of the owners information and put his own sim card into it to use it. Then when Apple "bricked" it on him, he had the audacity to complain about them "bricking" his stolen property and how unfair that was.

Nope, he's a thief and got what he deserved. I hope he's learned his lesson.

--LT

I've been avoiding this thread because you guys are doing so well on it.

I had a course in "Common Law" back in college and the principles of "lost and found" in the common law of the USA like this:

If you find a wallet dropped on a street without identification, you turn it over to a police authority and they will keep it a certain period of time to see if the wallet or the belonging is declared lost and the owner tries to claim it. If no one steps forward, then they will turn it over to you based on "finders/keepers" ... But you must make an effort to find the owner and the police must be involved.

Finding something does not mean that it becomes your property. It remains the property of the original owner. The law says that you have the responsibility to find the original owner.

If you find a wallet or belonging INSIDE a place of business, you turn it over to the BUSINESS. The business bears the responsibility of finding the owner. Why the "business"? Well because the business is most like the place the owner will return and ask if anyone found the belonging.

That's the way a court sees Lost and Found.

BTW- this is not "written" or "Codified" law. this is the common law handed down decisions by decision by judges in courts of equity for several hundred years and traces back to the courts of England. That is where the USA gets its Juris Prudence. THe only State that I know of is an exception is Louisiana which began as a French colony and has a coded system following French Juris Prudence. Big deal,

the rule is the same -- A finder bears responsibility to find the owner of an object in all cases.

That's it. That's the law. That's the lesson of the day.

I was sitting in a bookstore and had my iPod out. When I left, I left it on my chair. At the time, I saw the guy across from me give me a strange look. I have no doubt that he saw me leave my iPod behind, but instead of saying anything to me, he took it. That's stealing, and I'm with Losethem on this one. foxytaur could have taken the iPhone to the provider and they could have tracked down the owner. To do otherwise is stealing.

Hmm...so if I were to follow foxytaur's logic:

My neighbor has his vintage car parked outside on this lovely day, while work is being done in his garage.

Since he left it unattended, I guess that gives me the right to slam a screwdriver into the ignition switch, start it up and use it as my own.

Somehow it doesn't work for me...

foxytaur (imported) wrote: Mon Nov 21, 2011 8:17 am I wont lie guys i found my iphone in a motel last year(minor vacation USA), removed SIM, wiped data

Call me an ass but i just got a freebie.

But yeah now I have to wait for a damn unlock sim Chip.

What an idiot. Most people don't even realize that iPhones have sim cards. That phone was obviously reported lost or stolen. AT&T will still be able to block you with a different sim card.

Eunuchus (imported) wrote: Sun Nov 27, 2011 4:27 pm What an idiot. Most people don't even realize that iPhones have sim cards. That phone was obviously reported lost or stolen. AT&T will still be able to block you with a different sim card.

You can actually get around much of that if you work at it. As an example, I do have an older iPhone that I've both jailbroken and unlocked so that I can use any SIM card from any carrier on it. You can also change the IMEI on a phone (think of it as a serial number), but at that stage you're definitely getting into murkier territory.

The iPhone 4 AT&T has a Sim Card. The Verizon iPhone 4 does not have one that can be popped out and replaced.

The iPhone 4S is not carrier specific, but once set up with a provider, stays with that provider, no switching between AT&T and Verizon with the 4S iPhone.

Telling folks not to upgrade because you are using a phone you did not purchase and are having problems because you didn't actually buy the phone is rather disingenuous. I hope no one takes your advice on this and other matters.

I have an iPhone 4 and am extremely happy with it. I replaced my iPhone 3GS that I unfortunately ran through the washing machine and turned it into a brick. I upgrade whenever Apple makes one available and have had ZERO problems with those upgrades.

Don't worry, Just wait for some time and there will be a solution from dev team soon.

However others should beware of the problem and not try to upgrade...