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02:33 AM
12/15/09
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12/15/09
Others have raised the excellent point that other companies do this, as well - but I suspect none as well as Apple. Apple has anti-espionage down to a science. I have numerous friends that work at Microsoft and have never heard of an "operation" like this.
That said, Apple's products are also a cut-above, and we could ask ourselves whether practices like this are necessary for an over-achieving company like Apple to have the success they are enjoying today. Hard to say.
12:17 AM
Totally agreed Monty. So many whines and moans about the mentions of not being a Nazi. Why can't people just enjoy a fabulous piece of writing and not nitpick everything. If they looked at the accurate semantics they would not be complaining. A lot of people like to know how Apple keeps their products secret.
Again, why can't people understand journalism and great writing?
Jesus, besos! Cheers!
12/15/09
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12/15/09
And post them on TMZ ?
12/15/09
Every major corporation on the edge of technology (Microsoft, Google, Sony, Samsung, Motorola... you name it) has similar procedures in place - some even more gestapo.
They all *have* to, because of the made-in-China world we live in. A leak discovered from inside Apple to say, someone at Microsoft, would mean the project had been compromised. It wouldn't matter if Microsoft had no intention of entering the market that the project enveloped, it would mean that someone in Apple was shopping ideas, and another company (such as Samsung, who was in the same market for that project) could have the idea made into product in China before Apple even had the project finished.
They have to lockdown and contain the leaks, because information spreads so quickly. It wasn't necessary in the early days at Apple to do so because there was no internet, no scanners, no MMS, no chat, no email, no Chinese bootleg empire.
You don't agree with Apple's (or Microsoft's, or Google's, or whomever's) policy - don't work for them. Or be such an immensely important individual that those companies will work with you even if you refuse to sign an NDA or a non-compete.
12/15/09
Mind you, I don't think a child deserved that, but that's the sort of thing we've been reduced to in order to make a corporation act like a responsible citizen - tit for tat retaliation whenever possible.
12/15/09
We are talking money, not lives. No one should lose their life over a leak or over perceived corporate @sshattery.
12/15/09
Just suck it up and spend your dollars like good little drones.
12/15/09
EXACTLY.
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A friend of mine is on a forensic team from a consulting firm and they don't just search your cubicle, cell phone and laptop. He says they'll go into your house, take your hard drive and rummage through everything else they deem necessary.
The Apple story sounds pretty nuts, but this sort of thing happens all the time to many companies. "The same Worldwide Loyalty Team does many other things to keep everyone in check, from searching out the email history of every employee—which is also a normal practice in other corporations and government agencies..."
Yep.
12/15/09
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Also, "breaking into" someone's house is the wrong term. These forensic investigators obtain warrants first.
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12/15/09
Jesus, um...NO!
Clearly, what they're doing is not exactly legal. In fact, the supreme court is about to take up a case on exactly that issue.
[www.nytimes.com]
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" Though the legal issue in the case, City of Ontario v. Quon, No. 08-1332, concerns only text messaging in government workplaces, the Supreme Court’s decision may provide hints about its attitude toward privacy in the Internet era more generally.
The larger question, Judge Stephen G. Larson of the Federal District Court in Riverside, Calif., wrote in declining to dismiss Sergeant Quon’s case before trial, is this: "What are the legal boundaries of an employee’s privacy in this interconnected, electronic-communication age, one in which thoughts and ideas that would have been spoken personally and privately in ages past are now instantly text-messaged to friend and family via hand-held, computer-assisted electronic devices?"
12/15/09
12/15/09
I would think this should be more of a bother to the people faithfully performing their services.
I do agree that if Apple or any company wants secrecy, some protective and even offensive acts must be taken, and if you're guilty, bring it on, but otherwise, this does seem a tad unreasonable, just a pinch.
12/15/09
The first item is probably the exception to the rule. I'm sure someone would monitor your phone for you in that case, or allow you to keep it out on a table or something.
The second is conjecture, because we haven't heard that that is an issue. Anyway, it is management's problem, not yours. I doubt it happens often enough to affect the bottom line anyway.
12/15/09
on the other hand, if you're smart enough to work for apple, you'd think you'd also be smart enough to delete your emails to macrumors....
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