In a Leaked Memo, Apple Warns Employees to Stop Leaking Information (bloomberg.com) 100
Apple warned employees to stop leaking internal information on future plans and raised the specter of potential legal action and criminal charges, one of the most-aggressive moves by the world's largest technology company to control information about its activities. From a report: The Cupertino, California-based company said in a lengthy memo posted to its internal blog that it "caught 29 leakers," last year and noted that 12 of those were arrested. "These people not only lose their jobs, they can face extreme difficulty finding employment elsewhere," Apple added. The company declined to comment on Friday. Apple outlined situations in which information was leaked to the media, including a meeting earlier this year where Apple's software engineering head Craig Federighi told employees that some planned iPhone software features would be delayed. Apple also cited a yet-to-be-released software package that revealed details about the unreleased iPhone X and new Apple Watch. Leaked information about a new product can negatively impact sales of current models, give rivals more time to begin on a competitive response, and lead to fewer sales when the new product launches, according to the memo.
NDA? (Score:4, Insightful)
I hate it when companies force NDAs on business operations. I had one that said we couldn't talk about any aspect of the business, even though there was nothing to hide except corrupt business practices (which is probably the reason for it).
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You're trying to equate Apple to technology; I believe thats where the mistake lies. If you'd compare them to the fashion industry, then everything might make sense. Its all about rehashing old ideas and making them seem hip and new.
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I guess none of them were married then.
Re:NDA? (Score:4, Informative)
I work in the videogame industry, and so I've worked my entire career with the knowledge that absolutely everything I was working on was covered under the blanket NDA everyone signs before they're hired. There's a lot of people interested in the stuff we're working on, and so I guess human nature being what it is, it's hard not to tell people what neat stuff you see being worked on. But leaks tend to kill the careful marketing plan put in place for the game you may have spent several years developing.
So, I guess I'm sort of used to that. You simply don't talk about what you're working on unless you have express permission, or you risk get disciplined or fired. Given that there's a lot of interest in what Apple does, I can see why maintaining internal secrets is important to them as well.
I'm actually fairly impressed when I've worked at a company with several hundred people and there WEREN'T leaks. I can imagine how difficult that must be when you have many thousands of employees.
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"But leaks tend to kill the careful marketing plan put in place for the game you may have spent several years developing."
I assure you the plan was not as carefully thought through as you claim.
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Not to worry ... (Score:3, Funny)
... it "caught 29 leakers," last year and noted that 12 of those were arrested. "These people not only lose their jobs, they can face extreme difficulty finding employment elsewhere," ...
threaten much? (Score:1)
"if you leak, we will find you, we will find your children, your whole family and add them to our silicon valley do not hire list" /s
Reminds me of this... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Tech_Employee_Antitrust_Litigation
Re:Competitive Response (Score:5, Interesting)
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Re:Competitive Response (Score:4, Informative)
Apple doesn't claim to have decryption keys for everything that goes through iCloud, nor have they ever. Quite the contrary, in fact, since they explicitly state in their security white papers that they don't have the keys for much of it. For instance, iMessages, which go through iCloud, are end-to-end encrypted, with the sending device encrypting the message once for each receiving device. Likewise, FaceTime and many other services are end-to-end encrypted.
There are some things that they can decrypt (e.g. iCloud Backup contents, documents stored in iCloud, etc.), but those are mostly the items actually being stored there, rather than merely passing through it.
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iMessages, which go through iCloud, are end-to-end encrypted, with the sending device encrypting
WTF, has no one any clue anymore?
The "establishing of the connection", the "online status" that is what goes via iCloud.
As soon as the two parties are connected all traffic goes over "the internet" ... no secret iCloud middle man involved. What would be the point of that?
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WTF, has no one any clue anymore?
The "establishing of the connection", the "online status" that is what goes via iCloud.
As soon as the two parties are connected all traffic goes over "the internet" ... no secret iCloud middle man involved. What would be the point of that?
Despite seemingly being on "my side" in this, it's worth pointing out that iMessages are a form of asynchronous communication akin to text messages, so the two (or many more) devices don't actually connect to each other via the Internet in the way that you suggest. Moreover, iCloud actually is involved as a sort of middle man in the sending of each and every message (though it isn't privy to the contents of those messages), since in addition to being the pipe through which iMessages are sent, iCloud is also
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Yes, for text messages that makes sense.
However a video call would not go via iCloud, or a voice call.
On the other hand signal based apps (the software "signal") go all via a central server. I believe same for telegram.
Re:Competitive Response (Score:4, Informative)
Except Apple has never claimed anything like that. The FBI claimed that. Apple can grant access to user's iCloud account given a warrant; however, the problem is that data on the phone is encrypted using device level keys that Apple does not have access nor ability to get.
In the San Bernandino case, the FBI wanted data off the phone. So Apple advised that they should allow the iPhone to automatically sync up and backup tothe iCloud account. Instead the FBI instructed the police to reset the password which then locked Apple and the FBI out of the phone's data.
Re:Gotta love it (Score:5, Interesting)
Knowing Apple, they probably added some sort of digital fingerprint to the memo so they could catch the leaker.
I hope that the leaker was smart enough not to forward the headers...
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not to forward the headers
Damn
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That's easy, you just remove everything that's between <head> and </head>
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Work elsewhere? (Score:1)
I thought industry wide blacklists were forbidden? This sounds pretty much like an admission of their existence. Also, this is about leakers; who else goes on the list?
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How about creating products worth leaking (Score:1)
Just Threadripper? EYPC as well (Score:2)
EPYC mac pro with 4 X16 slots. 4 m.2 slots 6 TB 3 buses and dual 10-gig-e can work.
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But what will you do with the extra lanes?
You get 128 total, and you're using 64 on PCIe slots, 16 on M.2, 12 on TB3 (Intel bottlenecks their shit by using only 2 lanes per port), and 4 on networking.
You've got 32 left over, man.
How about we just give you a couple dozen USB 3 ports and if you want SATA/SCSI/Floppy/Whatever you just buy some adapters?
Why is this "news"? (Score:5, Insightful)
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They all do. It is not news. Just a low level employee being snotty. I imagine Apple has a lot of low level know nothing employees.
The real question is why would anyone leak info to the press? For kicks? The press is not your friend, they will misrepresent anything you say, they will twist facts to suit their ideology, and they will sell you out to your employer or the cops if pushed. They do not care about you.
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The Fruit Has Gone Bad (Score:5, Insightful)
As a former Apple diehard (been clean about 10 years now), I really can't believe what major league douche bags Apple has become. I only stopped using their computers because my university didn't support them on their network at the time, but between incredibly overpriced machines and devices, suing everyone under the sun and over matching them on lawyers, threatening and almost abusing employees on the regular, trying to intimidate everyone that has anything to do with them, making devices that are almost impossible to repair and then deliberately breaking third party repairs with software updates which seem to have no legitimate purpose and appear to only be pushed to break the repairs, spam dialing 911 from their repair centers and then not having any idea how to stop it, supporting terrorists (I'm all for protecting people's data and standing up to the man about it, but you lose your right to have your data shielded when you openly murder a room full of people), their general smugness about everything, and probably a few other things I'm missing, I am very glad that I haven't contributed a dime to them in the last decade. I think back to how awful M$ was in the '90s (and they're still not much better), and I feel like Apple has actually surpassed them in terms of shitty and abusive business practices. It would almost be impressive if it wasn't so horrifying.
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Dont forget apples laughable "thermonuclear war" on Android; ebook price fixing; suing schools and grocery stores for using an apple in their logos; media blacklisting.
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I only stopped using their computers because my university didn't support them on their network at the time ...
The brand of a computer does not matter when connected to a network
Just saying.
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I only stopped using their computers because my university didn't support them on their network at the time ...
The brand of a computer does not matter when connected to a network
Just saying.
Back when Mac's still used AppleTalk they were banned on many networks. If you connected a Mac, the sysadmin would hunt you down and disconnect you.
That's because AppleTalk is probably the worst local network protocol design of all time, with everything broadcast, and super linear blowup of overhad based on the number Macs connected, ruining the network efficiency for everybody
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I worked in a cluster with about 100 Macs, and we had plenty of 20 - 30 Macs clusters. Never noticed any issues. I guess they had enough switches, on the other hand, I don't remember if we even used AppleTalk or where already using EtherTalk.
That must be why HomePod sales fell off (Score:4, Funny)
After all, it can't possibly be due to the high price or to Siri's limitations.
Recusion? (Score:2)
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Just desserts. The expression is more about chocolate cake than the Sahara....
Are these people demented? (Score:2)
Have they hired from kindergarden or what?
Dammit guys we just talked about this! (Score:1)
Yo Dawg! (Score:5, Funny)
Yo Dawg, I heard you liked leaking memos, so I leaked a memo about leaking memos so you could leak memos while you leak memos.
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It's an older meme sir, but it checks out.
It appears that..... (Score:1)
Kommandant Trump isn't the only person who has problems with leakers.
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But these aren't in a Moscow hotel room.
this is just a link to apple pr (Score:1)
PR disguised as a news article.
Best Headline Ever! (Score:2)
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Also, wtf did they get arrested for? This is a civil matter.
Stealing trade secrets (and yes, revealing them to unauthorized persons constitutes stealing) is a Federal crime. No, not all the leaks involved trade secrets. Apparently 12 cases did. But you'd know all this if you'd bothered to RTFA (yeah, I know).
Yo Dawg! (Score:1)
Yo dawg, I heard you like to leak memos when you leak memos so hereâ(TM)s a leaked memo!
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windbag dilettante metamorphmagi (Score:2)
Whoever wrote that sentence can be trusted on the subject of long memos.
A windbag dilettante would have merely written "Apple".