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Leaked Recording: Inside Apple's Global War On Leakers (theoutline.com)
Reader citadrianne writes: A recording of an internal briefing at Apple earlier this month obtained by The Outline sheds new light on how far the most valuable company in the world will go to prevent leaks about new products. The briefing, titled 'Stopping Leakers -- Keeping Confidential at Apple,' was led by Director of Global Security David Rice, Director of Worldwide Investigations Lee Freedman, and Jenny Hubbert, who works on the Global Security communications and training team. According to the hour-long presentation, Apple's Global Security team employs an undisclosed number of investigators around the world to prevent information from reaching competitors, counterfeiters, and the press, as well as hunt down the source when leaks do occur. Some of these investigators have previously worked at U.S. intelligence agencies like the National Security Administration (NSA), law enforcement agencies like the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service, and in the U.S. military. Top-notch reporting from The Outline, consider reading the full report. During the briefing, a company executive said they have been able to find two employees who leaked information to media.
Of course, the irony of a leak about leakers being leaked is amusing.
This article has it.
Maybe they should start paying the chinese workers fair wages so the won't have an incentive to leak stuff to get some extra cach to support their families.
sudo rm -r -f --no-preserve-root /
Every year, we get closer to the corporate ruled World that Heinlein has in Friday.
We already have corporate armies. Eric Price's Blackwater. They are called "contractors" by our State Department. So when you hear of contractors getting killed, it's really mercenaries - I mean private security contractors.
I heard you hate leakers, so we put a leak in your leak, so you can leak while you leak.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
I think some of these leaks, are leaks "on purpose". Apple, for better or worse, is great at marketing. To built buzz/hype for an upcoming product, you have to know that most companies "leak" some things on purpose.
> Some of these investigators have previously worked at U.S. intelligence agencies like the National Security Administration (NSA)
Credentials check out
... "who later disappeared from public." :D
While I can understand why a company would have an interest in preventing leaks about their upcoming products, what everyone needs to realize is that no one else shares that interest. Unless you own Apple stock, the very most best-case scenario for Apple-leak-prevention is worth to you, is $0.00. And it's probably worth slightly less than that.
Even for vendors that you personally like, you are in a zero-sum game with them when it comes to leaks. You probably want to know what their next thing is, if you religiously buy their products or if you are in competition with them. And for the other 80% of people (because, let's admit it, a fuckton of people do still buy Apple products), the only reason to not care about it is .. because you just don't care.
So how long have you got?
Apple iz evilz! what about freedom of speech! Apple evilz!
I'm getting tired with all the leaks. It's like looking at all the presents under the Christmas tree and knowing what is in each wrapped box. It takes all the fun out of it. Let me be surprised!
Whew! This water sure is cold!
It's good to have these spooks on retainer because if shit hits the fan while you're travelling they can help get you and your family out.
I love the fact that our police and intelligence agencies provide a never-ending stream of corporate mercenaries for hire.
Wouldn't it make more sense for some of these people (FBI, NSA, etc) just to be barred from working in private intelligence jobs? Anyone above a certain level with 10+ years has a choice to either keep working to full pension age or get a partial pension, but in either case they are barred from working as private intelligence/enforcement mercenaries.
It's one thing for an ex-street cop to work as a security guard or a bouncer, but should we really be spending a bunch of taxpayer money training and educating FBI, NSA or other intelligence-type people just so they can take that knowledge and information and apply it to what amounts to private enforcement and intelligence gathering efforts?
I guess they need to work harder on their strategy.
I tend to rant.
In order for the buzz/hype to be actually relevant, you need very precisely time the "leak".
If you release it too early/build too much anticipation, you risk being the victim of Osborne Effect, and you will be sitting on a huge pile of unsold older-generation hardware, as the (potential) userbase is holding and waiting to see the next-generation before buying it. (This supposedly killed the Osbone Executive & Vixen)
Apple needs specially to be careful with this as (at least from the outside, to a non-Apple user like me) it seems that they only have a limited span of generations selling at one point of time.
Basically, they are only selling "current gen" hardware.
At the conferences, when they announce officially newer hardware, it's usually with added comment "it's shipping now". Meaning that newer hardware in the new "only current one" that they are selling.
Meaning that by that point, they must have cleared the older hardware, and must be ready to ship the new one.
Also, in addition to that, Apple are a high profile target, meaning that asian-noname hardware cloner will try as much as possible to provide cheap knock-of s of their hardware. A too early leak also means that some no-name chinese cloner will have a longer lead time to try to produce a cheapo android clone with the same feature.
So basically : Apple needs to tighly control the leaks, so only what they decide to "leak on purpose" gets released - when it's at their most advantage e.g. for building anticipation. And so they avoid harmful leaks happening by genuine accident (employee leaking stuff too early, leading to Osborne Effect and un-shipped old-gen stock, or marked flood with cheap noname asian knock-ofs and the latest iGadget losing part of its elitists appeal).
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
... but honestly, any company working with China has to employ EXTENSIVE measures to not be completely ripped off. One thing you never do is give them a complete design. You have two or three manufacturers and they each get a piece of the design--never the whole thing.
We live in an age were knowledge is MONEY. Our social security numbers. Our medical records. Our personal information is _valuable_ enough for hackers to spend the time to steal. Now, imagine having a patent or new design in one of the (if not THE) most watched tech companies in the world. Anything they do, has immediate ramifications. Any new API and the industry reacts and adapts, and/or competes. There's tons of interest (=money) in knowing what Apple does before the general public does.
The task of keeping Apple secret, even when an employee is disgruntled or fired, must be a monumental task.
Apple didn't do so bad when they weren't an intelligence service with a technology company attached to it.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
"But the presentation makes working for Apple sound like working for the CIA. (At one point, Rice even refers to 'lowing cover.') There are repeated references to employees drawing boundaries in their personal lives, for example. 'I go through a lot of trouble not to talk about what I work on with my wife, with my teenage kids with my friends, my family,' an employee in one of the videos says. 'I’m not telling you that you give up all relationships,' Rice says, 'but that you have a built-in relationship monitor that you’re constantly using.' "
This sounds like a cult member talking about maintaining the cult. WTF
Its always the ones in the closet who whine like you, denail rots you brain.