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In a Leaked Memo, Apple Warns Employees to Stop Leaking Information

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Re: In a Leaked Memo, Apple Warns Employees to Stop Leaking Information

#111

Post by stouset »

cromwellian wrote: post #88

I think Apple obsesses too much about secrecy and attributes too much of it to its success. Except for the iPhone launch, almost nothing they've launched hasn't been leaked ahead of time, and yet, it is still the most valuable company in the world and their sales are through the roof. It seems they are still pining for that "shock-and-awe" of Steve Jobs original 2007 iPhone introduction, but don't realize that's no w…

There's a huge advantage in your competitors not knowing what your focus is, particularly if you're working on something out of left fields.

The more you can hide from them, the more of a head start you can have over them.

Re: In a Leaked Memo, Apple Warns Employees to Stop Leaking Information

#112

Post by solarkraft »

dragonwriter wrote: post #90
rockinghigh wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The CIA is interested in leakers because it uses them to get information from foreign intelligence agencies. They are not enemies.

> The CIA is interested in leakers because it uses them to get information from foreign intelligence agencies. To be fair, that is also a reason why they would have a motive to spread misinformation about what they believe motivates leakers, since information about their beliefs on that matter give target nations clues to both actual vulnerabilities and CIAs likely means of attempting to exploit them.

By the same arguments their world fact book may be incredible.

Re: In a Leaked Memo, Apple Warns Employees to Stop Leaking Information

#113

Post by ken »

ghaff wrote: post #78
ken wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's possible, but I don't think that's the primary factor. Netflix is a software/service company. When they've got something new, they can just ship it right away. Or if they decide to change something at the last minute, they can do that. Apple is a hardware company, and they produce everything at volume (millions of units). Their products, by nature, have long lead times. The design must be finalized well before i…

Aside from new shows (which are pretty much announced once they're green-lit), it's a bit hard for me to think of much at Netflix that the tech press is waiting to find out with baited breath. We're rolling out a new recommendation engine that gives even worse results than before? I'm sure there are some things but there are very few tech company announcement details (outside of financial results) that so many people…

That's true, too. Because Netflix is software/service-based, all of the new tech I hear about from Netflix (like Chaos Monkey) tends to be developer-oriented, not consumer-oriented.

That's kind of the nature of the business. Users want Netflix to be basically invisible -- they just want to watch their favorite show.

Re: In a Leaked Memo, Apple Warns Employees to Stop Leaking Information

#114

Post by alexandercrohde »

greedo wrote: post #73
alexandercrohde wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can we not group whistleblowing, a usually-legal heroic action of reporting immoral/illegal behavior (to the extent that you can be awarded millions of dollars by the government for whistelblowing) with leaking trivial product details?

If you think the motives of whistleblowers are as pure as the driven snow, we'll just have to agree to disagree. #2 covers their actions, but not all whistleblowers are related to Mother Teresa.

You're making a strawman argument. I'm not arguing "all whistleblowers are good people," I'm citing the definition of whisteblowing is "a person who informs on a person or organization engaged in an illicit activity."

Reporting a CEO embezzling is whistleblowing. Announcing apple is working on a new gizmo is not. Don't conflate them.

Re: In a Leaked Memo, Apple Warns Employees to Stop Leaking Information

#115

Post by bllguo »

bondolo wrote: post #92

Martin Minow liked to tell the story of the time he got a call from Steve Jobs right after Steve's return to Apple. Martin was working on Copeland which hadn't been cancelled yet. Steve called out the blue one afternoon and said "Hi Martin, this is Steve." Martin had worked with Steve in his early days at Apple before Steve's departure. "Hi Steve." "Look, we know you've been sending emails to Henry Norr who works at…

hmm, the first result in google for "martin minnow apple" that contains all those keywords is your comment

Re: In a Leaked Memo, Apple Warns Employees to Stop Leaking Information

#117

Post by ghaff »

wpietri wrote: post #99
kec wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't really understand what you're trying to get at. That just sounds like sour grapes from someone who didn't totally grok that what you do on company time belongs to the company.

The notion that "what you do on company time belongs to the company" is one possible relationship between labor and capital, but far from the only one. And even that phrasing is a little misleading, because executives often get much more latitude here; the principle in practice seems to be less about serving the collective interest of all stakeholders (that is, the company) as serving the power structure's current oc…

I learned recently of the formal approvals needed at $LARGE_TECH_COMPANY that I don't think of (as an outsider) as being especially super-secretive to give an external presentation. I was probably more surprised than I should have been. But it did shock me a bit compared to where I am--which is admittedly pretty far on the open side of the spectrum.

Re: In a Leaked Memo, Apple Warns Employees to Stop Leaking Information

#118

Post by ghaff »

sugarpile wrote: post #103
foobaw wrote: post #36

This highly contrasts Netflix, which barely has any leaks, although discloses almost all their information to employees. Is it Apple's company size and culture that make leaks inevitable?

There are about five comments saying there is nothing Netflix employees can leak that people care about. You’re all thinking too tech centric. Nielsen, studios, and the press would love to get their hands on Netflix’s viewer numbers and associated demographic data for a given show or movie.

That's fair. It's certainly true that business data associated with any high-profile company is going to be of a lot of interest, especially if it's something that a lot of people want to know but the company has refused to make public.

And listen to just about any earnings call and you'll hear lots of financial analysts trying to extract some more "color" from behind whatever numbers were released.

Re: In a Leaked Memo, Apple Warns Employees to Stop Leaking Information

#119

Post by jadedhacker »

snowwrestler wrote: post #76
jadedhacker wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a little skeptical. The intelligence services would say something that would make you skeptical of the motivations of leakers. If they're selfishly motivated the public doesn't mind them being locked up and put into isolation and tortured in ways that don't leave a mark. The leakers that come to mind immediately are Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning whom both suffered greatly for their leaks (Snowden had to leav…

The notion that leakers are driven in part by ego was not invented by the CIA. It's well-known and exploited by reporters. As an example there's a short discussion in the recent movie The Post where Post reporters are trying to figure out who leaked the Pentagon Papers. Ben Bagdikian says something like these guys are always a bit of a showboat and it leads him to remember Ellsberg at Rand. EDIT to add: the CIA is in…

The Post is a movie about the Washington Post, which has a large undisclosed financial conflict of interest with the CIA. Jeff Bezos's AWS has a large CIA contract, and Bezos owns the Post. Getting a take about leakers in such a movie is not the best way to acquire a real picture of the world.

The CIA only locks up brown people and tortures them in Thailand (star). It refers US leakers to the FBI which throws them into lonely prisons, terrifies, and abuses them.

EDIT: (star) Or rather it did. That's what Gina Haspel, our new CIA director nominee, is famous for.

EDIT2: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/norman-solomon/why-the-washin...

Re: In a Leaked Memo, Apple Warns Employees to Stop Leaking Information

#120

Post by jadedhacker »

toopsss wrote: post #109
jadedhacker wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a little skeptical. The intelligence services would say something that would make you skeptical of the motivations of leakers. If they're selfishly motivated the public doesn't mind them being locked up and put into isolation and tortured in ways that don't leave a mark. The leakers that come to mind immediately are Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning whom both suffered greatly for their leaks (Snowden had to leav…

The ego argument doesn’t make me skeptical of the leakers, why would it. It sounds like a plausible explanation. What is a better explanation that accounts for the tremendous downside?

I don't think ego plays no role but you can interpret it positively or negatively, and as a dominant factor or a secondary factor. For instance, if ego is predominant, then a leaker would find something to leak, but if it is secondary, it may motivate them to leak when the public interest is at stake when they might otherwise be afraid to.
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