Google Nexus 4 Prototype Lost In a Bar

theodp writes "A little over a year ago, an iPhone 4s prototype walked into a San Francisco bar, prompting a controversial manhunt by a now-deceased Apple investigator and the SFPD. Now, Wired reports that a Nexus 4 prototype walked into a San Francisco bar last month, prompting Google to sic its security team on 'Sudsy,' a San Francisco bartender who notified Google that he'd found their phone, which was slated to make its debut at a since-cancelled Android event on Oct. 29. When the 'Google Police' showed up at the bar, Sudsy's co-worker sent the 'desperate' Google investigator on a wild goose chase which landed him in an under-siege SFPD Station, from which he and Sudsy's lawyer had to be escorted out of under the watch of police in full riot gear with automatic weapons so the pair could arrange a 1 a.m. pickup of the phone."

Just in case you're wondering about the riot cops

[wonkey_monkey]

under the watch of police in full riot gear with automatic weapons

This had nothing to do with the lost phone. Some punk got shot and people went nuts.

Re:Google Police

[skegg]

You must have somehow missed these lines:

global investigations and intelligence manager at Google

He insisted on meeting ASAP, that night, at the bar. Barton refused. Telling co-workers he felt “harassed,”

“He was little but really pushy, like military. He said he wanted to keep me out of trouble — like I was in any kind of trouble — keep the bar out of trouble. They could file criminal charges, he said.”

Kind of paints a different picture to yours, oui / non?

Re:Google Police

[Maow]

I highly suggest you read the article since the summary is highly edited to make Google look bad. Example: Google didn't send a private investigator. It sent a single Google employee who was jerked around by the bartender and his friend because they wanted to cling to their powertrip.

Bad Luck Google: Sends a guy to pick up a lost phone. Gets screwed around by the people who found it. Still offers a free phone to the guy. Gets called evil by the Internet.

Not quite how I read it. The guy that came to pick up the phone sent a flood of calls to bartender's teck-savvy friend (who'd contacted Google on his behalf). Bartender felt "harassed" so didn't stick around work for what he seemed to think would be a confrontational meeting.

Indeed, Google rep was described as pushy and seemed to threaten the other employee and maybe even the bar with some kind of charges, although the bartender was not resisting the return of the phone. Colleague that dealt with the rep didn't like being threatened and sent rep on "wild goose chase" to police station.

Seemed to me that Google's security team could've done a bit better job on the recovery had they used a bit less bluster and a bit more appreciation (aka people skills).

Now, I'm not sure how it worked out that the bartender, although offered a free phone to keep quiet, still seems to have provided photos to accompany the story. Should've taken the free phone and shut up about it. I believe the story contained a disclaimer about paying for the photos.

Non story, bad writing

[thePowerOfGrayskull]

So when you take the drama out of the ridiculous article, here's what you get:

Dude finds phone. Some drama round giving the phone back,

Dude finds a phone. Talks to a friend. Friend contacts google. Google wants to get the phone right now, bartender wants to do it next day. Google security dude goes out ot the bar to pick it up. Bartender is out playing a gig somewhere else. Bartender's coworker for some reason tells security dude that bartender is at the police station.

Security dude goes to police station in the middle of a riot. Calls a random lawyer who gets involved for some reason - or at least makes a statement to Wired.

Then they meet up and after the security dude proves his ID, bartender returns the phone to him.

WTF?

Why was this made to sound like the bar was stormed by Google Secret Service or some such crap?