Authorities Withdraw Gizmodo Editor’s iPhone 4 Prototype Search Warrant

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In the wake of the iPhone 4 Antenna Press Conference, some smaller news: the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is now reporting that the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office has withdrawn the search warrant used to seize items from Gizmodo editor Jason Chen’s home earlier in the year, after Gizmodo published full details of a leaked iPhone 4 prototype that Apple alleges was stolen.

Although the EFF has continuously stressed that the search warrant used to enter Chen’s home and confiscate his computers was illegal because it violated a prohibition against warrants for “unpublished information obtained or prepared in gathering, receiving or processing of information for communication to the public,” the warrant was repealed not by court order, but because of Gizmodo’s own cooperation.

According to Gawker’s COO and legal advisor Gaby Darbyshire, Gizmodo agreed to voluntarily give the district attorney access to materials that a court appointee deems relevant.

In other words, Gizmodo is still under investigation for any wrong doing, but San Mateo County will no longer hold onto Jason Chen’s personal property by force: rather, he’ll be co-operating with them and delivering anything they request going forward.

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