Samsung should hire him, and also the daughter to do a walkthru of whatever their next phone is.
Apple fires engineer after his daughter’s iPhone X video goes viral
31–40 of 79 posts
Re: Apple fires engineer after his daughter’s iPhone X video goes viral
#32Re: Apple fires engineer after his daughter’s iPhone X video goes viral
#33It's pretty strange that someone lost their livelihood solely because they didn't bow to authority. (As opposed to a practical reason, like "what he did mattered.")
It seems harmless at first, but... In the video, we can see an email on his phone marked "restricted" with a project code name and some other details. That could potentially be harmful. His daugher is probably not allowed to see that, let alone post it on youtube. Not to mention, they want to tightly control the message prior to the pre-order sale... they don't want any unfinished software on the device changing peop…
I saw way more harm in the engineer using the phone to pay for lunch at the cafeteria and mention that he worked on that feature. Was that cashier under the same NDA?
Now he's seen it and can leak the design to the world and nobody would know. Or were there dozens of these prototypes running around the Apple campus and everyone (including contractors and guests) knows to look the other way?
Re: Apple fires engineer after his daughter’s iPhone X video goes viral
#34From the article, "I had no idea this was a violation" Welp, if you weren't getting fired for showing off the iPhone X before it ships without permission you should be fired for being at Apple for four years and not realizing this might be a problem. I can't even take this as genuine. I seriously wonder if they were already half out the door for other reasons.
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Re: Apple fires engineer after his daughter’s iPhone X video goes viral
#35If Apple does not want their devices to be used as intended until an embargo date has passed they should keep them on premises. Once the device is out of the gates the secret is out as well.
NDA's are very effective when you are talking about documents and adults. As soon as you're talking about devices and/or kids NDA's are ineffective because anybody that spots the device can post a picture without any recourse by the company and kids will do whatever they want to in today's connected world.
Whether it was smart or not is another matter but I feel that firing someone over something like this is way too harsh, besides all the good publicity it gave Apple. But I guess when you're a tech-fashion company it's perfectly ok to ignore the realities of producing physical goods and the fact that you're going to have to let your product out of your control at some point.
Re: Apple fires engineer after his daughter’s iPhone X video goes viral
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you are someone else’s employee then you are already “bowing to authority” or as I put it working for someone else. NDAs are serious. If I violated a NDA I would likely be taken to court as well as fired.
Yes. And that's my point: We have no autonomy to decide whether something matters. You don't get to choose. Unless, of course, you're in a position of power. Then you do. That kind of cheapens the idea that we're all working to build something great. Situations like this reveal what we're really working for.
What do you mean by:
> We have no autonomy to decide whether something matters.
Re: Apple fires engineer after his daughter’s iPhone X video goes viral
#37"I had no idea this was a violation" Somehow hard to believe.
I know several kids who can get out of pretty much any trouble by feigning ignorance. Their parents drive me nuts.
Re: Apple fires engineer after his daughter’s iPhone X video goes viral
#38Looks like they're making an example of him more than anything else. In this case, a lot of media reporters already have made detailed videos of the phone so the damage is minimal -- but if another engineer leaks the next iPhone at an alpha stage, it would be very different.
Perhaps it wasn't in the linked article, but other ones I've read indicate that the video showed things on the phone beyond what Apple's media department let reporters see. Things like internal QR codes and project names. This appears to be more than a simple case of making an example of a bad apple.
Re: Apple fires engineer after his daughter’s iPhone X video goes viral
#39Feels like someone has an agenda, this is the 10th time I've heard this story and it has exactly the same information. Father told/showed daughter prototype phone in breach of an NDA that I know he signed if he had access to that hardware. Daughter felt really proud of superstar daddy and took to the internet to show off. Apple has three recourses, 1) Sue the employee to the fullest extent covered under the NDA. My e…
Can someone explain why you're down voting this person? His/her comments seem very reasonable, am I missing something?
I hate that HN lets you downvote without an explanation.
edit: And now I'm being down voted for asking a question!? Wtf is going on.. I'm trying to get information here..
Re: Apple fires engineer after his daughter’s iPhone X video goes viral
#40If Apple does not want their devices to be used as intended until an embargo date has passed they should keep them on premises. Once the device is out of the gates the secret is out as well. NDA's are very effective when you are talking about documents and adults. As soon as you're talking about devices and/or kids NDA's are ineffective because anybody that spots the device can post a picture without any recourse by…
The video was taken on Apple's new campus....