News
Man sues Apple, FBI over mafia-‘bugged’ iPod conspiracy
Apple has been sued by a Beverly Hills, CA man, who accuses the company of conspiring with the mafia to track him and his activities in secret. According to the complaint, Gregory McKenna believes his bedroom, living room, upstairs bathroom, and Toyota Camry, along with an iPod shuffle he purchased from eBay and an iPod mini he purchased in an Apple Store, all contained receivers that allowed the mafia to transmit threats to him and follow his whereabouts. McKenna claims that recordings of mafia members saying “I’m going to kill him” played in unison with a song on his iPod mini in 2008, and that a modified version of the Mike Jones song “Still Tippin,” heard on his iBook G4, PowerBook G4, and two iPods contained the word “herpes,” which McKenna suggests was added to the song in order “to humiliate, degrade, and cause emotional stress.” Apple is but one of several entities named in the lawsuit, joining the St. Louis County Police Department, a local auto mechanic, and “unknown agents” of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Filed in U.S. District Court in Missouri, the suit reads, “The recording of death threats and other evidence prove that APPLE INC. conspired with the Mafia and other Defendants to manufacture, distribute, and sell illegally bugged iPods and other electronic equipment to Plaintiff to perpetuate the stalking, extortion, and torture.” (via AppleInsider)
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1
LOL, is this guy deranged? As if a company would work with the mafia like this. I hope there is a followup story about how this gets thrown out after 10 minutes in court.
Posted by Devon on July 17, 2009 at 6:42 AM (PDT)
2
Another reason the US court system is so backlogged. This wacko has the “right” to require the defendants to spend money to have this dismissed. What a country!!!
Posted by Aceon6 in New England, USA on July 17, 2009 at 6:48 AM (PDT)
3
YEA!!! That happened to me also. They conspired to steal the plans for my new time traveling space ship so I could get away before the coming World War 4. I think that changed the blue prints cause nothing works now!!!
Posted by TeRRy on July 17, 2009 at 6:51 AM (PDT)
4
This is clearly an important iPod-related news item, and not amusing in any way. This is valuable information for those of us being persecuted by those evil AppleMafiosos who keep stealing my shuffle and putting songs I don’t care for on it after an Autofill. I for one salute Mr McKenna for his bravery.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to repair my tinfoil hat and replace all the black paper covering my windows to keep out the mind control rays from the AppleMafiosos. They give you herpes that way, you know!
Posted by Daniel S. on July 17, 2009 at 7:02 AM (PDT)
5
which mafia ? Russian, Albanian, Italian, Irish or Jewish ????
Posted by Angus on July 17, 2009 at 7:22 AM (PDT)
6
It’s the Italian Mafia. I did a quick google search and the writer of this article seems to have left it out on purpose as the original report mentions clearly it’s the Italian Mob. Makes it even more exciting now with real-life Tony Sopranos involved, lol, lol
Posted by John on July 17, 2009 at 7:42 AM (PDT)
7
ahhhh this made my day. My servers and network were down big times but this herre realyl made my day ...LOL thanks MR Gregory McKenna
Posted by dennis on July 17, 2009 at 8:37 AM (PDT)
8
This is textbook paranoid schizophrenia. The poor man is likely tormented by anxiety about all kinds of things. Usually the means by which “they” are harassing him is from transmitters embed in his dental fillings. The ipod is a more recent twist. The voices that he hears are very real to him.
Posted by TulsaGent in Tulsa, OK, USA on July 17, 2009 at 9:02 AM (PDT)
9
5, 6- Bah. Its clearly the Penguin Mafia. They have their flippers in EVERYTHING, you just don’t want to admit it! *pause* They’ve gotten to you, haven’t they? WHAT ARE THEY PAYING YOU? Money? Women? Herring? *runs to find the Polar Bear Conglomerate, the Penguin Mafia’s natural enemy*
Posted by Daniel S. on July 17, 2009 at 10:19 AM (PDT)
10
Tulsagent is spot on, or this paranoid apple user is using paranoia inducing drugs such as meth.
Posted by pPT on July 17, 2009 at 12:39 PM (PDT)
11
Sometimes I wonder, maybe it’s like a movie, where he is the star, and the whole world doesn’t believe him. When we’re in the audience, we feel for him and think that the rest of the world just needs to listen and understand. But unfortunately, we are the rest of the world now…
Or not. He’s probably just crazy as hell…
Posted by Justyn on July 17, 2009 at 2:38 PM (PDT)
12
O.O I will keep my iPod wrapped in tinfoil from now on.
Posted by Flint on July 18, 2009 at 7:59 AM (PDT)
13
Well, its nice to see that the good fellas have finally found a non-violent alternative to a baseball bat.
Posted by Greg K on July 19, 2009 at 9:36 AM (PDT)