[bad_user]

> by calling this 'stealing' your re-defining the concept of stealing and then couching the argument in terms of theft

When I was 15 years old I used to take money from my parents to go out with friends and stuff like that, without them knowing. They've caught me once, and my defense was basically that I just found it on the floor, what I was going to do? :-)

So this goes both way ... by not calling this stealing you're redefining the concept of stealing and then couching the argument in terms of "finders, keepers".

> We don't all live in California, so our legal systems classify what happened differently.

I live in Europe, and here when you find something you're legally required to turn that over to the police. Of course few people do it, but then again few journalists are stupid enough to buy stolen property and then reveal their sources or the fact that they've bought it.

That's one liberty journalists usually have ... they don't have to reveal their sources.

[jrockway]

Then again few journalists are stupid enough to buy stolen property and then reveal their sources or the fact that they've bought it

This is an important fact worth mentioning. Gizmodo should not have said where they got the thing from.