Apple Employees, If Ordered To Unlock iPhone, Might Quit (nytimes.com)

An anonymous reader quotes an NYTimes article: Apple employees are already discussing what they will do if ordered to help law enforcement authorities. Some say they may balk at the work, while others may even quit their high-paying jobs rather than undermine the security of the software they have already created, according to more than a half-dozen current and former Apple employees. [...] The employees' concerns also provide insight into a company culture that despite the trappings of Silicon Valley wealth still views the world through the decades-old, anti-establishment prism of its co-founders Steven P. Jobs and Steve Wozniak. [...] The fear of losing a paycheck may not have much of an impact on security engineers whose skills are in high demand. Indeed, hiring them could be a badge of honor among other tech companies that share Apple's skepticism of the government's intentions.

Comments

Re:Total BS

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not actually the disagreement that's likely to cause people to quit. Instead, it's the chance of a fuck up.

Suppose you do do this, and you make a mistake. You test your code like crazy, it goes via QA, and gets tested like crazy, you use it on the FBI's phone, and the device gets erased.

There's a reasonable chance that the result of these actions is that you end up in Guantanamo bay.

I'm not gonna take that risk for any salary, even a 6 figure one.

Re:Total BS

[gurps_npc]

You are wrong on several levels.

First, I think they are you are assuming they quit a job and become unemployed. The people in question are in HIGH demand. The question is not quit and get unemployment checks, but instead, quit and start your own company as CEO.

Second. It is not about not agreeing with law enforcement, that is your particular fantasy about what is going on. Instead it is quit because they believe that DOJ is violating the Constitution of the United States of America. People that really, truly think the government is about the violate the Constitution really will quit their jobs. This is in direct contradiction to the tin-foil idiots that think the DOJ has already violated the Constitution but have done nothing but post stupid comments.

Your belief that people have no principles reflects your personal mental foibles, not those of the rest of the world. They are not trying to fool anyone, they don't give a crap about what you or the general public cares about.

Also, Demi-gods no longer need money and do it for the principle/love.

Finally, there is nothing magical about Apple. If their best, most devoted, principled employees quit, the next "Jesus-phone" as you put it, will be a piece of crap and fail. Worse, remember who I said they would start their own company? The new Apple failure phone would have to compete with the new products created by the old employees, who quite likely would base their corporation in Vancouver, Canada in order to avoid the FBI issues. Wonderful city, still on the west coast, everyone speaks English.

Re:Outsource it to Germany

[david_thornley]

For something like this, they could have a multiple-key system where the updates would have to be signed in, say, any three of Iceland, Sweden, Ireland, and Portugal. Signing the final updates does not have to be instantaneous.