Pentagon file on Steve Jobs reveals 1975 arrest over speeding ticket
A previously unknown 1975 arrest of Steve Jobs over an unpaid speeding ticket has been revealed in a newly released file kept by the Pentagon.
The Department of Defense document filled out in the 1980s, when Jobs filed for a Top Secret security clearance, was obtained by Wired through a Freedom of Information Act request. It reveals that Jobs was briefly arrested in 1975 over a minor infraction.
Investigators doing a background check on Jobs discovered that he had failed to disclose the arrest in his security clearance questionnaire. Jobs said he didn't mention the arrest because he didn't consider it an "actual arrest."
Jobs reportedly failed to pay a speeding fine of about $50, resulting in an outstanding warrant. The arrest occurred in Eugene, Oregon, when Jobs was being questioned by police for suspicion of possessing alcohol as a minor.
When police discovered the warrant, Jobs was arrested, but after he paid the $50 fine, that was the end of the matter.
"I had no intension of falsifying my (Personnel Security Questionnaire) for not listing this incident and did not think of the above incident at the time of answering the PSQ," Jobs explained in a written statement to investigators.
While Jobs failed to mention that incident, he did speak freely about illegal phone "phreaking" he conducted to make free long-distance calls with a Blue Box. He said the Blue Box "project" did not earn him a profit, and he saw it as a "technical challenge, not a challenge to break the law."
Jobs also spoke about his past drug use, and said he used LSD between 10 and 15 times between the years of 1972 and 1974. He usually took the drugs when he was by himself.
"I have no words to explain the effect the LSD had on me, although, I can say it was a positive life changing experience for me and I am glad I went through that experience," Jobs wrote.
As part of the Top Secret security clearance review, Jobs was also asked in 1988 for ways he might be susceptible to blackmail. He told investigators that he had an illegitimate daughter, and someone looking to blackmail him might kidnap her.
Jobs said that if he were to be blackmailed, the person doing so would likely seek money, not access to Top Secret classified material or documents.
The Department of Defense document filled out in the 1980s, when Jobs filed for a Top Secret security clearance, was obtained by Wired through a Freedom of Information Act request. It reveals that Jobs was briefly arrested in 1975 over a minor infraction.
Investigators doing a background check on Jobs discovered that he had failed to disclose the arrest in his security clearance questionnaire. Jobs said he didn't mention the arrest because he didn't consider it an "actual arrest."
Jobs reportedly failed to pay a speeding fine of about $50, resulting in an outstanding warrant. The arrest occurred in Eugene, Oregon, when Jobs was being questioned by police for suspicion of possessing alcohol as a minor.
When police discovered the warrant, Jobs was arrested, but after he paid the $50 fine, that was the end of the matter.
"I had no intension of falsifying my (Personnel Security Questionnaire) for not listing this incident and did not think of the above incident at the time of answering the PSQ," Jobs explained in a written statement to investigators.
While Jobs failed to mention that incident, he did speak freely about illegal phone "phreaking" he conducted to make free long-distance calls with a Blue Box. He said the Blue Box "project" did not earn him a profit, and he saw it as a "technical challenge, not a challenge to break the law."
Jobs also spoke about his past drug use, and said he used LSD between 10 and 15 times between the years of 1972 and 1974. He usually took the drugs when he was by himself.
"I have no words to explain the effect the LSD had on me, although, I can say it was a positive life changing experience for me and I am glad I went through that experience," Jobs wrote.
As part of the Top Secret security clearance review, Jobs was also asked in 1988 for ways he might be susceptible to blackmail. He told investigators that he had an illegitimate daughter, and someone looking to blackmail him might kidnap her.
Jobs said that if he were to be blackmailed, the person doing so would likely seek money, not access to Top Secret classified material or documents.
Comments
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shogun
I read this and now I feel dirty... Ick. No one needs to know this stuff about another human being. AI, maybe worth pulling it? I mean, on the day of the keynote you publish this??
Yeah really AI. I don't remember the last time I actually commented on one of these AI posts (I read them all the time), but I felt compelled this time. This falls under the category of "really?.. does this even matter? and why even bring it up at all?" I read a few pages but just felt really dirty. This isn't news, and it's not really relevant to anyone. I don't read AI for the dirt you might get from People magazine or some tabloid. I read it because of the gadgets.
agreed, this has no relevance and is inappropriate IMO.
So Apple Insider is plumbing the depths of investigative journalism to report about a Steve Jobs speeding ticket? Rather obnoxious.
News doesn't wait. Wired broke the story and some other media would be certain to pick it up, if not AI. What sort of mental gymnastics are you exercising to connect an item out of SJ's past with today's WWDC? You're right in that nobody needs to know this stuff, but don't expect that your ethical standards are going to put the gossip industry out of business.
http://youtu.be/A4VbOHvaPRc
Wow, this has added so much to my life. Not. What a stupid article.
Appleinsider do you really need MORE ad revenue even the day of an Apple announcement???
LSD was a life changing experience.... yeah I bet it was :-P
just for kicks?... or is it like everything involved with "Top Secret", on-a-need-to-know-basis.?
amazing!. i wonder when they were redacting the the file, did they cross-reference the file with the book walter isaacson wrote?...
edit...
ok i'll remove my "tin-foil hat" and it was probably needed to/for the Next computer and the "internet"...
i more interesting article, and "spooky" is
http://arstechnica.com/security/2012/06/flame-crypto-breakthrough/
unbelievable... using Windows update to distribute "flame"... OMG. is " flame" on Macs?... if not a good reason to use macs... I suppose. LOL (the Tin Foil hat, just does not seem to want to stay off...)
Only $50 for a speeding ticket in 1975 in CA? This is a bargain. It would cost at least $200 today, I believe. Maybe we make 4 times as much?
I worry about the security a government can provide when they demonstrate publicly how crooked they get every single page in a Top Secret file.
Quote:
Originally Posted by haar
so why did the late Steve Jobs need a Top Secret Clearance for?... in 1988?... installing a back-door in every mac computer?... subconscious messages imbedded into the pixar movies?... access to alien technology to be incorporated into the Apple products?...
just for kicks?... or is it like everything involved with "Top Secret", on-a-need-to-know-basis.?
amazing!. i wonder when they were redacting the the file, did they cross-reference the file with the book walter isaacson wrote?...
Pixar. The Pixar Image Computer was one of their primary products and was sold to various three letter agencies.
Jobs was out of Apple in 88.
Pull the article AI, the guy is dead and it doesn't add anything...
You need a security clearance to do business or a job for the DoD.. Whether it's TSC or just secret depends..
Is it right to publish Steve's SSN?
It to me is interesting that the very first item on the summary page has his date of birth incorrectly as 4-24-1955, not February....
Odd that they got his PSQs using a FOIA. Why didn't the privacy act trump that? Or the exemptions in the FIOA itself? At least some stuff is redacted.
There should be no reason to provide "personnel and medical and similar files the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy." 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(6)
The fact that he's dead shouldn't matter. The DC circuit court ruled that the government could withhold the voice recording of the challenger crew because "the sound and inflection of the crew's voices during the last seconds of their lives . . . contains personal information the release of which is subject to the balancing of the public gain against the private harm at which it is purchased."
And I wasted good money on the Authorized Biography. I could have just read this - it's a really good summary - except the names are blacked out.