With the death of Steve Jobs now in the past, the FBI has released his file to the public for people to see. The contents of the file are quite interesting. It mainly consists of past court cases against him, one of which has not yet been settled. It also sheds some light on his personal past. Including the fact he had been considered for a presidential appointment in 1991 during George H W Bush’s time in office. He had converted to Buddhism and admits that he had drug use.

In a very appropriate revelation, Steve Jobs never had a real job. His FBI file shows that his first employment in 1974 was at Atari inc. This should come as no surprise. Despite the adamant declarations by his followers, Steve Jobs already came from a privileged position. His fans never ask how a man in his 20s was able to sit at home tinkering with computers coming up with ideas without have to go out and work to get a job. Because his parents were already well off. He had a tremendous amount of privilege in not having to work so that he could dream up ideas and experiment with them. He didn’t have to get a job to survive like the rest of us. The claim is that if anyone has talent and ability they can supposedly climb to the top and achieve. Many talented people have been ignored or destroyed by the corporate world, or from a lack of access to education. It shows much of the hollowness of such a claim about capitalism.

In the FBI file it shows some of his past legal troubles. There’s five lawsuits listed, which the document says only one is unsettled. Apple Computer Securities Litigation, United States District Court for the North District of California, filed in 1984. The issue involves alleged violation of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Which means he’s been accused of “fraud, manipulation, or insider trading”. Since the case was filed in 1984 and still hasn’t been resolved, its suspicious. As if a lawsuit that has been on-going without resolution for 25 years isn’t strange enough, it gets stranger. According to the document half of the case against Jobs has gone missing (page 34):

“A check of the records of the United States District Court, San Jose, California, determined that this file consists of ten volumes, only five of which could be located. Volume one, containing the original complaint and details of the matter was one of the unavailable volumes.”

Interesting how such an important volume against such a wealthy man has gone missing. After asking around a group of people I know in legal work, they’ve got a guess as to what happened. Most likely Jobs tied up the entire suit filing motion after motion to delay it. Also, they speculate that eventually Jobs was able to pay some one off to go into the records room and have important parts of the file go missing. This is not uncommon and happens frequently with wealthy people. This is however only speculation as to how half a criminal case goes missing.

Later on in the FBI file it showed that there were great questions about his personal integrity including the phrase “Mr. Jobs will twist the truth and distort reality in order to achieve his goals.” To think Steve Jobs didn’t do such things would be quote naive. You don’t grow to the top of the computer game like he did without doing extraordinary underhanded moves. After all this is the guy who attempted to deny the working conditions in Foxconn faculties that led to suicides. He also denied the slave labour working conditions, much of which has come out more now after this death. This would make him no different than any of the other mega corporations who exploit millions in the productive process that leads to massive abuses of human rights and social devastation.

Even some personal matters were mentioned, it said that he was not supported of the woman he had a child out of wedlock with or the child itself. But the file noted that later on he had become more supported. So for a time at least it seemed like he was a deadbeat dad, despite all his wealth. If that is the case, we shouldn’t be surprised. Its a mentality among the bourgeois that they are entitled to avoid responsibility for their actions.

The file, in the end, shows a man who was respected for his work, but was not trusted and often thought of as questionable and a liar. But that is par for the course in capitalism. He made tons of money, helped create technical innovations, commanded respect, but was a poor human being. What does likely being a dead beat dad, a person who dealt in the worst working conditions that lead to suicide and lying about them, endless lawsuits that prevented many people from competing with him; compared to the fact he made a lot of money? That fits the mentality and nihilism of capitalism quite nicely.

Steve Job’s FBI file:
http://vault.fbi.gov/steve-jobs/steve-jobs-part-01-of-01/view