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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

#151

Post by jacquesm »

jaclaz wrote: post #55

>In 2017, Apple caught 29 leakers. 12 of those were arrested. And what happened to the other 17 (the majority)? Were they "just" fired, were they hot iron branded or obliged to wear at all times a scarlet L ?

> 12 of those were arrested

It's pretty weird to see the breach of an NDA in a corporate environment lead to an arrest rather than just a civil lawsuit between the two sides of a contract. Apple seems to be a bit eager here to play the fear card and I find it surprising that law enforcement would do more than take their statement and give them a copy of it. Breach of contract would be the worst that you could accuse a leaker of, which is not typically a criminal affair.

Is it normal to have people that break NDA's to be arrested?

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

#152

Post by jlgaddis »

paxys wrote: post #58
koolba wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I completely understand what's in it for the reporter, but I've never understood what the employee gets out of it. I've been reading Mark Gurman's scoops about Apple for years so I'm definitely biased in wanting that to continue. It just seems like there's tons of upside for the reporter and only downside for the leaker. There's four reasons people leak information: 1. Out of moral responsibility to report unsafe o…

5. Personal profit. In a lot of such leaks the employee is paid by an outside source.

I'll repost a comment I made a few moments ago [0] again here:

> Are media organizations like 9to5mac (mentioned in Apple's memo) paying Apple insiders for the information they provide?

> Personally, I wouldn't think that the leakers were getting paid. Even if they were, I imagine the amount that these particular online web sites are able to pay is very much -- especially when compared to the average Apple employee's salary.

Let's take the memo linked in TFA, for example. Just how much can we expect Bloomberg might pay for a copy of this memo? I can't imagine that it would be very much at all -- certainly not enough to make it worth the risk of being caught.

> This makes me think that money isn't the primary motivating factor, if it is a factor at all.

[0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16834397

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

#153

Post by draw_down »

Fice wrote: post #69

There is also a possibility, that at least some of the "leaks" are in reality marketing ploys orchestrated by the company.

Um, they intentionally “leak” to reporters sometimes when they want to set the record straight without going on the record. But that is always more about setting expectations rather than a “marketing ploy”. For example if a product will miss its ship date, or if inaccurate rumors are really swirling and refuse to die down.

Other than that, there is no 12-dimensional chess inside job conspiracy stuff happening.

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

#154

Post by JumpCrisscross »

gameswithgo wrote: post #60
yodon wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I’ve never understood what the employee gets out of it The intelligence services have done a great deal of research into the persona of the press leaker/Wikileaks leaker (as distinct from the more traditional espionage leaker). A common trait is for the press leaker to be either highly over-qualified for their job or believe themselves to be over-qualified for their job. The belief coming out of that research is a s…

>The “leaking good and important things” blanket that the leaks are wrapped in then becomes a secondary factor that is used by the leaker to justify Sounds like how a sociopath would interpret the motivations of a good person.

> the motivations of a good person

Edward Snowden and someone who leaks an upcoming iPhone's rounded edges are not in the same category.

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

#155

Post by IBM »

cromwellian wrote: post #140
stouset wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Does Apple have a head start on most things they do? Most observers acknowledge they aren't usually the first to do something, rather, they're good at execution and polish. They were beaten to market on pretty much everything: watches, bezelless displays with notch (e.g. Essential Phone), smart/speakers (Amazon, Google, Sonos), Streaming/TV (Roku, Amazon, Chromecast), etc. Really, I think the world would be better if…

Maybe there's zero business value in keeping secrets (I don't believe that at all), but even if that were the case and Apple were just overly obsessed with "the prestige" [1][2], why would that change anything? They should be free to operate the company in anyway they want. Apple's a 40 year old business and everyone knows their culture. Employees know what they're signing up for (and I think their first day is an orientation about this topic specifically).

[1] https://youtu.be/gZY1mB9m9b0?t=19s

[2] https://techcrunch.com/2012/09/13/the-iphone-5-event/

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

#156

Post by carterehsmith »

IBM wrote: post #2

Somewhat ironic that this memo got leaked but I think in this case it actually serves their purpose for it to be read by everyone (including potential employees). I think this part is key and is something I've always wondered about: >While it may seem flattering to be approached, it’s important to remember that you’re getting played. The success of these outsiders is measured by obtaining Apple’s secrets from you and…

> but I've never understood what the employee gets out of it

They may get money?

Some of these companies have valuation in hundreds of billions, and a small bit of news can nudge that +/- 0.5-2% or more which could be a couple billions dollars. If you own just 0.1% of the stock, that would be several $m opportunity . So, paying your informer, say, $100K or something, sounds reasonable, if you can execute it properly, even accounting for fake informers.

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

#158

Post by Barrin92 »

sergiotapia wrote: post #9

Can they not tweak specific word variations to track down where the leak is coming from? You can narrow it down to which department the leak is coming from at least.

Honestly, that requires a pretty gullible leaker. If the person leaking information cross-checks what information coworkers got and doesn't leak identifiable documents (others mentioned unique watermarks) it's probably going to be hard to track them down

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

#159

Post by bllguo »

bondolo wrote: post #129
newman8r wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I can't find anything either, good fact-checking. Hopefully just a misspelled name.

Spellcheck had indeed "corrected" the spelling of his last name from "Minow" to "Minnow". Now fixed.

thanks! was just interested in finding out more about him

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

#160

Post by walrus01 »

I wonder how many ex-intelligence-agency counterintelligence people Apply employs. Probably at least a few.

Question for those who've gone through CI training: Do Apple leaks all fit into one of the MICE categories? I don't think there is any new motivation.

(Money, Ideology, Conscience, Ego)

Would be very interested to see what programs they have developed to intentionally generate false but plausible information internally, get it into the hands of specific people or workgroups, and see if/where/how/when it leaks. Usually done for the purpose of identifying specific leakers or compartments that are leaking.

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