Teen leaks unreleased HTC One successor, and HTC isn't happy
arstechnica.com
arstechnica.com
Please don't do this sort of stupid stuff. I can't in good conscience buy another phone from your company, ever, unless you apologize to the boy, his family, and anyone you went after for leaking the info (reinstate the job of anyone fired over that).
For the kid: a formal apology letter from the President of HTC, on company letterhead, plus a $1,000 in cash to cover any expenses incurred, plus a handwritten note by the President apologizing profusely, further thanking him for promoting HTC products, taking an interest in technology, along with a personal exhortation to study hard, work hard, listen to one's parents, and do good for oneself and one's community.
Then, perhaps, I will reconsider my personal ban on HTC products.
For those of you who roll their eyes: I had a bad experience with Audi in 1997. Swore to never buy an Audi again. Last year I bought a BMW. This year I leased a Mercedes-Benz. Yeah, we went to the Audi dealer, and yeah, my wife liked a couple of them, but I said no, so they lost out on $35,000.
You may think the consumer is fickle, and you are right: the consumer is fickle and irrational. You publicly insult children, you get automatically added to the shitlist, and you stay there forever. Any questions?
He's a kid. Is this how we treat children in this day and age? Is this the civilized thing to do?
I don't think so.
Anyway, HTC could simply have said: "Thank you for finding our phone. Please ship it back to us in this prepaid box, and we'll give you a nice reward" (like a flatscreen TV, a Sony PS4 and $500 worth of games, or some equivalent). That would have been completely sufficient.
I'm not saying what the kid did was wrong or not. What I'm saying is that HTC could have handled the situation a lot better, a lot more professionally, and that I hold them to that.
That's how it works - "finders keepers" never applies, ever.
I don't know, maybe this kid's parents forgot to teach him.
But either way, just from a use your brain perspective, if you do have stolen property, the last thing you want to do is go bragging on the internet in a video about it.
And the fact that the kid seems to be a prolific liar (and a bad one) doesn't exactly help me sympathise with him.
Sure, ok, he somehow "got in possession" of stolen property. He decided to brag about it in an internet video (which he later denies).
Why does he continue to lie again, and again, and again?
First it's - oh, the phone is a fake. Dude, the frigging IMEI number is right there.
Second, I didn't share the video. Sure, that's why it reads like every other internet review - gee, you filmed this with the express purpose of showing nobody?
Thirdly, my parents work for HTC - don't you think HTC would be able to find out in about 5 seconds if your parents worked for them?
Also - we don't even know the consequences.
As it stands, he's probably going to just get hauled in for having stolen property, told to give it back, and then given a stern talking to by a judge.
Unless of course he's stupid enough to try lying to the judge as well.
Then he'll quickly see that in the real world, your actions do have consequences.
Regardless of how unwise or immature his actions were, the company should not have treated him the way they did.
If someone told me that, I'd feel absolutely terrible inside. And that is the definition of an insult.
Since they said that on twitter, that fits the "publicly" label don't you think?
So if someone calls you and tells you a loved one has died, they just insulted you? Man, I better never let anyone know anything that will make them feel bad. That would be insulting. /s
FYI, I think a threat is worse than an insult in most cases.
No it's not. The person who leaked the info should feel some responsibility for his actions. I don't think HTC exec's actions were not to scale in opinion. But this is no way an insult.
Gee, I have stolen property - either pinched by me, or pinched by somebody and given to me.
I can either say, whoops, I'll give it back.
Or I can try lying to them in a completely stupid way, to try and worm my way out of this, so I still get to keep the phone.
tldr: take responsibility for your own actions. Parent should have never given a secret device to a child.
First, he tried to claim is was fake.
Then he said he didn't post the video.
Then he claims his parents work for HTC.
Sure, HTC's wording is probably not exactly kid gloves, but it sounds like - we're going to sue your sorry a*se to get our stolen property back.
Is that the phrase we're using for "scared teenager" these days?
Because it isn't. And I can't seriously believe you are telling HTC to apologize. The tweets, though misguided, are barely threatening. And whoever works for the company that the kid knows deserves to get fired. They shouldn't have let the phone come into anyone else's possession, especially a kids.
And I fall squarely in their definition of "the customer".
You can't please all the people all the time. Sometimes the customer is an idiot not worth your time.
At least Chris put his opinions out there in public. All too often people complain about a company in every single medium except for one that may actually make it to a relevant recipient.
..Which is also why I hope he also has sent this directly to HTC. I know Hacker News is read by quite a few [important] people in tech, but unless he also directs it to the proper avenues this rant will have as much effectiveness as someone complaining at a bar.
Can you expand on this - I watched the video, what part was unlawful (stating the jurisdiction and legislation/caselaw that apply would help)?
Can you think of a jurisdiction where that's not illegal? Lol.
The kid either stole it, or he somehow knowingly came into possession of stolen property.
Just because you find something, doesn't make it yours.
The right thing to do, when you find something that is obviously stolen (and there is no way an NDA phone would not be) is to return it.
Stealing something is illegal, and buying something that's stolen is also illegal.
It's like Gawker, and the whole stolen iPhone fiasco.
Much as I detest Apple, Gawker were definitely in the wrong there.
And this kid didn't help things by trying to lie again, and again, and again afterwards.
Just say, whoops, I "didn't" know it was stolen, and hand it back - no harm, no foul.
Trying to weasel your way out so you can keep your stolen shiny bauble isn't cool.
Usually that's limited to "if you know it, [or should reasonably suspect it] to be stolen".
I can imagine many scenarios in which he used the phone in the video without it being stolen, and more in which it was stolen and he wasn't aware of that.
"Hey my Dad found this phone left at his work, he's taking it to the Police Station in the morning; do you want to have a look at it?"
"I won this phone in a game of poker, want to buy it?"
However, I thought you were claiming it was illegal to make the video.
Which they might. We'll see.
Sure, hold a company to a high moral standard, but I'd expect the same from you, the ability to forgive.
Mission accomplished indeed!
Giving your kids access to tech under NDA is like giving your kids access to guys. You are not going to have a good time.
You can debate the degree to which this kind of secrecy is warranted, but at the end of the day, when you sign an NDA it is legally binding, and you can't simply blame violating that legal contract with a "Kids will be kids"
The phone looks awesome, I really enjoy their design style.
I'm not sure that's what you meant, if it is then can you expand?