Cops Seize Gizmodo Editor's Computers

The Gizmodo saga continues: On the heels of the found iPhone incident, Gizmodo editor Jason Chen is reporting that California police confiscated his four computers and two servers and ransacked his apartment last Friday—all with an invalid warrant. According to Gaby Darbyshire, COO of Gawker Media LLC, Gizmodo’s parent company, however, “a search warrant may not be validly issued to confiscate the property of a journalist,” under section 1524(g) of the California Penal Code. According to Chen, he and his wife returned from dinner that evening to police officers who told him to “go stay with [a] friend until they were done” searching his home. When Chen presented them with an email from Darbyshire indicating that seizing a journalist’s property is illegal, they allegedly ignored it and continued their work. The warrant, Gawker’s legal response, and Jason Chen’s account are all posted online.