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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

#91

>>> Pregnant workers have complained about the use of metal detectors at facilities that make new products, only to be told they would have to change to less sensitive roles if they weren’t willing to submit to screening. Apple’s security policies specifically say no exceptions can be made for pregnancy. Throwaway for obvious reasons. Apple mandates that Foxconn worker's worker's wear uniforms with the only pockets o…

What does that even mean? Do these people think you can just walk around the metal detectors in an airport if you’re pregnant?

[deleted]

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

#92

>>> Pregnant workers have complained about the use of metal detectors at facilities that make new products, only to be told they would have to change to less sensitive roles if they weren’t willing to submit to screening. Apple’s security policies specifically say no exceptions can be made for pregnancy. Throwaway for obvious reasons. Apple mandates that Foxconn worker's worker's wear uniforms with the only pockets o…

What does that even mean? Do these people think you can just walk around the metal detectors in an airport if you’re pregnant?

> If you are pregnant and still concerned, you can opt out of going through screening technology altogether and requesting a pat down. The pat-down will be conducted by a female Transportation Security Officer, who will advise you about the pat-down details.

https://www.tsa.gov/blog/2014/07/22/tsa-travel-tips-pregnant...

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

#93
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…

It's not really much different from loads of the HN crowd having eye-watering access to production systems. It's just part of the job, and there are a lot of people whose lives and families depend on you not fucking it up, and the job pays well enough to not worry about going hungry or freezing to death in the snow. Yes, of course, of course, in day-to-day practice simply having integrity is the absolute end of the story, but even to the paranoid risk analysts upstairs it's not that outrageous to trust people who already have a good life and have no reason to risk going to federal prison just for an earlier retirement.

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

#94
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Bit of a straw man isn't that? Your one single cell phone is a bit different from one of hundreds of prototypes not owned by anyone in particular or even intended for sale.

I would be mad at someone stealing prototypes I use for development.

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

#95
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I wonder how many of these extraordinary leak prevention measures would be necessary if Apple manufactured their devices in the US or Europe? One of the huge economic benefits of standardized, lockable, shipping containers is that rates of products "walking away" on the dock dropped dramatically. Shipping companies used to just expect a certain % loss from outright theft from dockworkers. Indeed it was considered t…

>Assuming the person gets caught, You've never worked at a FedEx or UPS hub. Everything gets x-ray going in and out, you go through metal detector in and out, no open containers/phones/electronics/watches etc you can have a wedding band and only a wedding band. When stuff does go missing from a hub/sort facility, the carrier often finds the thief very quickly because everything is constantly being scanned and you kno…

Your Google got a monthly salary figure not an annual one.

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

#96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does that even mean? Do these people think you can just walk around the metal detectors in an airport if you’re pregnant?

> If you are pregnant and still concerned, you can opt out of going through screening technology altogether and requesting a pat down. The pat-down will be conducted by a female Transportation Security Officer, who will advise you about the pat-down details. https://www.tsa.gov/blog/2014/07/22/tsa-travel-tips-pregnant...

That is about the ‘see through your clothes’ advanced imaging devices and not merely metal detectors. Anyone can opt out of these.

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

#97
post #4

I wonder how many of these extraordinary leak prevention measures would be necessary if Apple manufactured their devices in the US or Europe? The temptations for the workers would be the same (big payoffs are a universal temptation), but there might be more of a cultural barrier to overcome. Also I'm fully willing to believe that US authorities would prosecute the crap out of someone stealing from Apple, whereas in C…

> if Apple manufactured their devices in the US or Europe? Unless I wildly misunderstand something, I'm pretty sure Apple could not produce X amount of devices at Y quality + rate for Z dollars in the US or Europe.

From, http://archive.is/5Gcnp

.............. .............. Apple executives say that going overseas, at this point, is their only option. One former executive described how the company relied upon a Chinese factory to revamp iPhone manufacturing just weeks before the device was due on shelves. Apple had redesigned the iPhone’s screen at the last minute, forcing an assembly line overhaul. New screens began arriving at the plant near midnight. A foreman immediately roused 8,000 workers inside the company’s dormitories, according to the executive. Each employee was given a biscuit and a cup of tea, guided to a workstation and within half an hour started a 12-hour shift fitting glass screens into beveled frames. Within 96 hours, the plant was producing over 10,000 iPhones a day. “The speed and flexibility is breathtaking,” the executive said. “There’s no American plant that can match that.” -->>

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

#98
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Assuming the person gets caught, You've never worked at a FedEx or UPS hub. Everything gets x-ray going in and out, you go through metal detector in and out, no open containers/phones/electronics/watches etc you can have a wedding band and only a wedding band. When stuff does go missing from a hub/sort facility, the carrier often finds the thief very quickly because everything is constantly being scanned and you kno…

Your Google got a monthly salary figure not an annual one.

Yes and? 'several times 1000' is multiple year's salary starting at $6800, $6800 for a prototype of a flagship device, or even a structural prototype of a flagship device, isn't unreasonable.

Now compare that to minimum wage in the United States which would be 4x (and then some) what the Chinese factory worker is making and, every factory job I've ever seen pays well more than minimum wage here (a quick Glassdoor search shoes 'The national average salary for a Factory Worker is $39,719', more than 10x a Chinese worker). Making an American worker far less inclined to risk termination and prison.

And in the case of the article, it mentions an individual stealing thousands of casings. You just aren't going to get enough money out of that to make it worth it for multiple American workers to try and smuggle thousands of units out of a factory, the risk to reward ratio just isn't going to work but at a dollar each and only 1000 units a Chinese worker is walking away with 3 months and change of salary.

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

#99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It probably has something to do with the Abrahamic religions' version of mind control known by various terms, including sin, guilt, souls, and forgiveness. You could at one time in history convince most Western workers to not steal from their employers by telling them that people who steal from and betray their social superiors will be judged by an all-seeing deity and then immolate forever after they die. In contras…

> employing five different mechanisms for achieving immortality Are you referring to Hinduism with this line, or is it some other reference? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immortality#Hinduism

Sun Wukong is five-times-immortal, because apparently each different method of achieving immortality has a loophole through which the immortal may still be killed. The loophole for one may be blocked by another. And if you're already immortal one way, you have time to do all the others, too.

This is why the divine court had to imprison him forever by pinning him down with a mountain heavier than he could lift. Execution wouldn't work.

There are quite a few books, movies, miniseries, and television shows covering this. The Monkey King is a cultural staple in China. Son Goku of Dragon Ball is also based on him. Loosely.

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

#100
post #79
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…

If you're interested in seeing what happens when you do leak movie details (or in this case, the full movie) -- take a look at William Morarity, who leaked The Revenant, 6 days ahead of it's theatrical release.

https://torrentfreak.com/man-leaked-revenant-online-fined-1-...

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