Perhaps I haven't been paying attention enough, but it really seems like Apple is attempting a fairly large power grab recently
Apple explicitly asks employees to merge their personal and work accounts
11–20 of 361 posts
Re: Apple explicitly asks employees to merge their personal and work accounts
#12I’m slowly getting the impression that either there’s been a policy change at Apple in terms of customer privacy, or some other government pressure that’s causing all of these seemingly anti-privacy decisions to be made. I’m considering moving away from the Apple eco-system, any recommendations? I’m equally distrustful of Android (specifically Google). I feel like my only option is to compile and deploy my own versio…
The internal policy is invariably related to their views on ultra secrecy. Because they are 'Apple' and people want the jobs, there's acquiescence. When people leave it's probably a different story.
Re: Apple explicitly asks employees to merge their personal and work accounts
#13Yeah, it's really weird that the @apple.com email you get when you start isn't usable as an Apple ID. I didn't want to sign into my personal account on my work computer for a BUNCH of reasons (privacy being one, but beta software messing with my data was another) so I created a new free iCloud account. But it struck me as VERY odd that Apple would want their employees minging their work and personal data on their per…
Might be a side effect of how broken their "company" managed Apple ID system. You can create managed Apple IDs at business.apple.com with such access, but the accounts are _extremely_ limited in functionality[0].
0: https://support.apple.com/guide/apple-business-manager/what-...
Re: Apple explicitly asks employees to merge their personal and work accounts
#14Create a firewall between your personal and professional time. Another name for this is “setting healthy boundaries”. Always create new accounts for anything work related -- GitHub, Apple ID, whatever. Don’t install work apps on your personal phone. Don’t enrol your personal phone in corporate MDM. If they want you to use a device for work, ask them to give you one. Don’t do personal stuff on your work devices. Don’t…
This sounds like advice learned the hard way. Stay well, and don't burn out!
Re: Apple explicitly asks employees to merge their personal and work accounts
#15Good, non compliance. Apply the same principles to vaccination status and medical privacy.
Re: Apple explicitly asks employees to merge their personal and work accounts
#16I’m slowly getting the impression that either there’s been a policy change at Apple in terms of customer privacy, or some other government pressure that’s causing all of these seemingly anti-privacy decisions to be made. I’m considering moving away from the Apple eco-system, any recommendations? I’m equally distrustful of Android (specifically Google). I feel like my only option is to compile and deploy my own versio…
The whole using-personal-iCloud-for-work thing isn't super new, I started at Apple ~2 years ago and it was the recommended practice back then
Re: Apple explicitly asks employees to merge their personal and work accounts
#17There's nothing more satisfying than returning a completely wiped laptop to your former employer :)
Re: Apple explicitly asks employees to merge their personal and work accounts
#18This would be a serious breach of privacy if true. But reading the tweets I'm not sure what the policy really is:
> During a discovery thing 3yr ago, legal forced me to hand-over all my texts. They refused to let me delete anything, even "fully personal," even when I said "by fully personal I mean nudes." They said they're in their "permanent evidence locker
This doesn't sound like company policy, and more like they were subpoenaed or otherwise compelled to hand over communications.
> Another interesting Apple tidbit: the company tells employees to link their personal iCloud accounts if they need to collab with colleagues when they start. When they leave, they're asked to hand over their laptops w/o wiping them and give managers access to work systems.
I'm not sure how to parse this. Do you need to link your personal accounts with family photos and whatnot? Or can you just create a separate iCloud account just for work, to collaborate with coworkers?
I'm a firm believer in separating work and personal accounts. I usually try not to even log into email from my work computer if I don't need to, and I always use a spare phone for work if a company requires admin access or remote management tools of any kind. That said, reading these tweets I'm not really sure if Apple is asking employees to breach this separation. I'd just create a separate Apple ID for work and use that for the "personal" account that I'm supposed to merge. That's a separation I'm still comfortable with.
Re: Apple explicitly asks employees to merge their personal and work accounts
#19[deleted]
Re: Apple explicitly asks employees to merge their personal and work accounts
#20Create a firewall between your personal and professional time. Another name for this is “setting healthy boundaries”. Always create new accounts for anything work related -- GitHub, Apple ID, whatever. Don’t install work apps on your personal phone. Don’t enrol your personal phone in corporate MDM. If they want you to use a device for work, ask them to give you one. Don’t do personal stuff on your work devices. Don’t…
This makes sense for most employees of a corporation; is this also relevant for upper management or C suite executives? I'm curious about if these kinds of boundaries are established even in the "upper levels"