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Apple Factory Thefts: Secret Tunnels, Hidden Crawl Spaces

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Re: Apple Factory Thefts: Secret Tunnels, Hidden Crawl Spaces

#71

Post by bobbyi_settv »

windowtoss wrote: post #3

Throwaway account to be safe. ———— While I did not deal with Apple specifically, I did however deal with another major mobile phone corporation — at that time — and i’m sure most of you have heard of them: Research In Motion, RIM, BlackBerry, etc. This was during a time, my guess is 2008-2010, when forums, unreleased product leaks, and blogs were a very big business and leaks were lucrative to everybody. As a BlackBe…

There was a super interesting article in the New Yorker a few years ago about the smuggling of unreleased albums out of CD manufacturing plants back in the day. Your experiences remind a lot of that:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/04/27/the-man-who-br...

Re: Apple Factory Thefts: Secret Tunnels, Hidden Crawl Spaces

#72

Post by Theodores »

They should deliberately be leaking the whole time, some ideas being surreptitiously tested on an unassuming public. In this way any real leak gets ignored as the person making the leak is not as well connected as the posse from the PR company manufacturing fake leaks for Apple.

As part of the operation some leaks can be genuine so the press have full confidence in the PR operation, with it always providing them with tid-bits of speculation.

Who knows, Apple could have such an operation going already, unlikely though.

Microsoft did a similar thing during the early OS wars when they just announced they would be doing something without necessarily doing it. This killed off the incentive for competitors to enter the marketspace. Apple could do a similar thing with phone features.

Re: Apple Factory Thefts: Secret Tunnels, Hidden Crawl Spaces

#73

Post by hthtegr »

It wasn't lost on me when I was working on a contract for a very large secretive tech company that if I leaked info that I had it would affect the share price.

I didn't, but it made me realise how improbable it is that these companies actually manage to keep stuff so secret.

I bet there are hundreds of people reading HN right now who are keeping quiet about stuff that would be explosive if made public. Quite impressive really.

Re: Apple Factory Thefts: Secret Tunnels, Hidden Crawl Spaces

#74

Post by Stratoscope »

Waterluvian wrote: post #53
throwaway13000 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Fruit themed company" or "Company in Cupertino"

Ah yes, Blackberry.

This is a good occasion to recommend a great British comedy sketch:

My Blackberry Is Not Working!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAG39jKi0lI

One reference that may not be familiar to all viewers: when the sketch was made in 2010, Orange was a popular UK mobile carrier.

Enjoy!

Re: Apple Factory Thefts: Secret Tunnels, Hidden Crawl Spaces

#75

Post by Waterluvian »

Stratoscope wrote: post #74
Waterluvian wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah yes, Blackberry.

This is a good occasion to recommend a great British comedy sketch: My Blackberry Is Not Working! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAG39jKi0lI One reference that may not be familiar to all viewers: when the sketch was made in 2010, Orange was a popular UK mobile carrier. Enjoy!

Tangential to the tangential topic but this is my favorite tech pun comedy bit of all time. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=67-GeNYShbc

Re: Apple Factory Thefts: Secret Tunnels, Hidden Crawl Spaces

#76

Post by gesman »

inlined wrote: post #8

> Apple’s suppliers are forbidden from referring to Apple by name or its project code names anywhere in buildings. In which buildings? Surely (at least vendor specific) codenames are necessary for basic communication. I was affected when a partner team was sidelined by an Apple contract. It was a fireable offense to say was Apple or leak it, but you could use internally to indicate that you had mandated commitments a…

We call it "Fruit company"

Re: Apple Factory Thefts: Secret Tunnels, Hidden Crawl Spaces

#77

Post by rustguy »

ergothus wrote: post #64
rustguy wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems a bit in the clouds. The poster knowingly took ownership of stolen property and got a warning over it. Stopping after you're caught doesn't right your wrong.

> Stopping after you're caught doesn't right your wrong. Nope! I still remain happy to see that something gets stopped without legal action, and seeing a company that didn't go for the throat succeeding in their defense. Just because a wrong isn't righted doesn't mean we can't be happy the situation didn't get worse.

Somehow I think if the poster conspired to steal your own cell phone, you'd feel differently. What about a shoplifter at Target? You're implying that companies prosecuting theft are somehow morally inferior to RIM.

Re: Apple Factory Thefts: Secret Tunnels, Hidden Crawl Spaces

#78

Post by darkpuma »

antod wrote: post #66
darkpuma wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The men who made it were in fact professional miners and engineers from what I understand.

I can't help wondering about your word "were" (past tense)? Doing secret work for a ruthless criminal gang must be risky.

You seem to be right. This article talks about mass graves of diggers being found: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/08/03/underworld-mon...

Re: Apple Factory Thefts: Secret Tunnels, Hidden Crawl Spaces

#79

Post by koz1000 »

hthtegr wrote: post #73

It wasn't lost on me when I was working on a contract for a very large secretive tech company that if I leaked info that I had it would affect the share price. I didn't, but it made me realise how improbable it is that these companies actually manage to keep stuff so secret. I bet there are hundreds of people reading HN right now who are keeping quiet about stuff that would be explosive if made public. Quite impressi…

In a previous lifetime I worked for a company that had a Lucasfilm merchandising license for Star Wars: Episode 1.

It was made precisely clear what the damages would be if script details leaked out prematurely, and they would be enumerated in dollars and the figure was incredibly large.

Multiple-commas large. At least two, possibly 3.

The project team toiled for nearly a year behind a locked door, we couldn't discuss a single piece of the project with them until the premiere date.

Re: Apple Factory Thefts: Secret Tunnels, Hidden Crawl Spaces

#80

Post by Terr_ »

wongarsu wrote: post #51
nitrogen wrote: post #2

It's fascinating the lengths people will go to both when protecting and leaking unreleased products and manufacturing techniques. While I would do the same in Apple and Samsung's position, I am worried about the effects of durable secrecy on the sustainability of our society and markets. Markets need competition, and societies need public domain knowledge. If somehow a critical supplier is eliminated there would be n…

That's exactly why patents were invented: publish your secrets, in return the state gives you exclusive rights on the idea for 25 years. After that everyone can use the instructions from the patent application as they wish. Of course that system doesn't really work as intended anymore.

Most of the things Apple is trying to keep secret -- like case designs -- shouldn't be patentable anyway.
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