"If nuclear launch codes were left in a bar, the media would be congratulated for breaking the story."

Well, not if they scanned the launch codes and posted them online for everyone to see. That's not the only fallacy either--the government losing nuclear launch codes in a bar is a story because it proves the government can't protect nuclear launch codes, Apple losing a prototype iPhone in a bar is only a story because it gives us some idea of what the next iPhone might look like.

Incidentally, paying thousands of dollars for something you damn well know isn't legally owned by the person who's selling it to you is wrong. If it's a book of nuclear launch codes and there's a legitimate story to be told it's outweighed by a greater good, but where's the greater good here?